Indian bishops criticise lack of protection for Christians

Six bishops of the Indian federal state of Orissa have accused the authorities of not giving Christians sufficient protection against attacks. „It fills us with pain that government, both at provincial and federal level, has taken so long to react to the continuing violence against Christians in Orissa”, said Bishop Thomas Thriruthalil, chairperson of the Regional Council of the Bishops of Orissa, and five other bishops in the federal state in a pastoral letter read this weekend. „We are sad that both governments have failed so miserably in carrying out the duties placed upon them by the constitution.” Approximately 60 people have according to information from the Catholic Bishops’ Conference been killed since 23rd August 2008 by attacks of Hindus who have been turned into fanatics.

In their pastoral letter the bishops emphasise the social dimension of the pogrom-like attacks against Christians. The church supports the poor and the rejected and excluded, who are now demanding their rights. This speaking out is feared by the powerful in the land because it questions their influence. They have chosen the road of violence to secure their position of power.

„In fact most of the Christians persecuted in Orissa are impoverished and discriminated Adivasi native people, who are persecuted both because of their religious faith and because of their ethnic background”, said Ulrich Delius, Asia consultant of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) in Göttingen. In Orissa the position of the Adivasi is particularly dramatic. After decades of marginalisation the native people are now being cheated of their land-rights to push forward the industrialisation of the region. More and more people are being driven from the land of their ancestors to further India’s economic boom.

In no other Indian federal state are there as many ethnic conflicts as in Orissa, reported Delius. According to information given by the Indian Ministry of the Interior 695 ethnic conflicts were registered between January and September 2008 in the whole of India. Right at the top of the list lay Orissa with 159 cases.