Posted by on May 11, 19102 at 12:05:44:
The attacks on Christians in the tribal areas of Dangs in south Gujarat have been going on for the past one year and are not the outcome of a sudden upsurge of developments on December 25 last year, inquiries have revealed.
Even on Christmas, when the maximum number of churches and Christian institutions were hit and burnt down, the attacks were not isolated but planned and systematic.
The Hindu activists allegedly descended in hordes in several villages around the same time -- between 1900 hours and 2000 hours -- to indulge in similar acts of vandalism, an independent fact-finding team has ascertained.
The team, led by Justice (retired) S Suresh of the Bombay high court who had inquired into the Bombay riots, went around the affected villages and spoke to the tribals, the clergy and Hindu leaders.
In the submissions made before the team, it was revealed that the first of the attacks was in Kudas village on November 11, 1997 when priest Premchand Gambit was beaten up. On November 14, at Umerpada, 24 Christians were threatened and implicated in false cases.
On February 20 last year, at village Divan Temroon and Jamalapada, Christians were beaten up while praying. In May, at Jorsod, Christians attending a two-day convention were attacked.
As many as five attacks took place in July. First, at village Dholidod, a prayer hall was damaged. A week later, an attempt was made to burn the prayer hall at Bobkhal. Two days later, at Payargodi, Sukar Bhai Gambit was attacked. Three days later, at Padalkhadi, Christians were attacked while they were praying.
In June, at Singhana and Lahan Kadmal, prayer halls w