"India is being destroyed," says K.P.Yohannan, president and founder of Texas- based Gospel for Asia. "What we are seeing is a breakdown of the rule of law, and the Christians are suffering because of it."
Radical Hindu groups continue to burn and loot churches and attack Christians in Orissa and Karnataka, India, while new attacks are being reported in Uttar Pradesh and Kerala. While the attacks continue, the death toll among believers continues to rise as they struggle to survive in refugee camps where access to clean water and safe food is severely limited.
In response, India's central government is threatening to intervene by taking control of state governments that do not put an end to the increasing violence within their borders.
New Attacks in Uttar Pradesh The latest report of violence came September 16 in Uttar Pradesh, a state in north central India, when four GFA missionaries were attacked while handing out tracts. Hindu extremists confronted the missionaries, grabbed their cell phones and used them to make threatening phone calls to the GFA state office. They vehemently told the men to "stop converting Hindus into Christianity" and mercilessly beat the missionaries.
A missionary school in Kerala was also attacked September 15, according to a report issued by the Evangelical Fellowship of India.
Orissa in Crisis The situation is even grimmer in Orissa, where Hindu radicals have been on a rampage since Aug. 22. This week, an estimated mob of 500 people attacked a police station, killing one officer and taking several others hostage. The BBC reports that the incident is thought to be in retaliation for police opening fire on a group of Hindu protestors over the weekend. Four people died, and many others were injured in the ensuing melee.
The protestors were reported to have been on a rampage burning down homes and prayer halls in the village of Kurtamgarh. When police tried to disperse the crowd, someone in the group fired a shot and injured an officer. Police say they were forced to open fire to control the situation.
Attacks against Christians in Orissa were commonplace, but they intensified into an organized ethnic cleansing in late August after a prominent, vocal anti-Christian Hindu leader was murdered. The Maoists have repeatedly claimed responsibility for his death, but a radical fringe of his followers blamed Christians as an excuse to incite a violent rampage of burning and looting churches and burning Christians.
It is estimated that more than half of the 100,000 Christians in the state's Kandhamal district are now homeless. At least 20 people have been killed in the violence. Several Gospel for Asia missionaries are missing.
Thousands of Christians are living in relief camps or hiding out in Orissa's dense jungles. Even if the violence stopped today, they would not be able to leave their temporary shelters. Their homes have been destroyed--burned to the ground in most cases-- and they have been told by their fellow villagers that they are not welcome to return to the community.
The situation in the relief camps is horrifying, according to GFA leaders.
"People are dying in the relief camps because of contaminated food and water," said Bishop Simon John, GFA's North India leader. "The militants are trying to stop relief from getting to the Christians. They are even coming into the relief camps torturing the people and taking away the supplies."
The Bishop said there has been one positive ray of hope in the midst of the carnage.
"The churches are coming together in unity. And it is only when the Christians come together in unity and prayer that anything will change," he said. "Our real fight is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual things that we cannot see. But we can only deal with it through prayer and waiting upon the Lord."
Karnataka Protests The city of Mangalore, in Karnataka on India's west coast, remains on a near shutdown as people protest the recent attacks on Christians and their places of worship. The Hindu extremists have attacked congregations three Sundays in a row. A Gospel for Asia missionary serves as pastor of one of the churches that was attacked on Sunday, September 14. The church was ransacked and set on fire, but the fire was put out before any significant damage could be done.
The fanatics have also made numerous terroristic threats against churches throughout the state.
More than 50 people have been arrested in relation to the attacks, but this has not stopped the violence. Churches in Karnataka are now meeting under serious threats.
In view of the deteriorating situation, India's federal government has issued an official warning to the Orissa and Karnataka state governments under Article 355 of the Indian Constitution, according to the Compass Direct news agency. That article requires state governments to honor India's constitutional freedoms and protections, and the federal government's warning sets up a potential showdown between it and the two state governments, both led by Hindu nationalist parties.
The next step for the federal government would be to implement Article 356, which would authorize direct presidential rule of the two states. Radical Hindu leaders have made veiled threats against the central government if it makes such a move.
Gospel for Asia is an evangelical mission organization based in Carrollton involved in sharing the love of Jesus across South Asia.
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