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[Ngo-list] [InfoTimes] BUSH FAILS TO CONDEMN HINDU TERRORISM AGAINST CHRISTIANS
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Thu, 28 Feb 2002 13:13:53 -0500
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INFORMATION TIMES: http://www.InformationTimes.com
America's Daily Internet Newspaper - Washington DC, USA
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BUSH FAILS TO CONDEMN HINDU TERRORISM AGAINST CHRISTIANS
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/InfoTimes/message/1281
- New Spate of Attacks Targets Christians
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020225-11624548.htm
- Website of U.S. Representative Mike Pence
http://mikepence.house.gov
- Biography of U.S. Congressman Mike Pence
http://mikepence.house.gov/bio.asp
- FBI Closes in on Anthrax Terrorist
- Prime Suspect is a Zionist (Racist Jew)
http://www.aztlan.net/zack.htm
- FBI Knows Anthrax Mailer But Won't Make an Arrest, U.S. Scientist
Charges
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/feb2002/anth-f25.shtml
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Publisher: Information Times - February 28, 2002
CHURCH ATTACKED BY HINDU MILITANTS
PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS IN INDIA CONTINUES
"Church leaders maintain, however, that all the attacks -- whether they
are carried out by the Bajrang Dal or its fellow Hindu nationalist
organizations -- have the tacit approval of the BJP government."--The
Washington Times.
U.S. State Department must declare Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS),
Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), Shiv Sena, Shiv Shakti Dal,
BJP and all other Indian-Hindu mafias as terrorist organizations.
by U.S. Congressman MIKE PENCE (Republican - Indiana)
In the House of Representatives
Congressional Record of the U.S. Congress (Pages: E200-E201)
Tuesday, February 26, 2002
Mr. PENCE: Mr. Speaker, the other day The Washington Times ran an
excellent article on an attack on a church outside Mysore, India by the
Bajrang Dal, a branch of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is
the parent organization of the ruling party, the BJP. The attack
seriously wounded about 20 people, according to the article.
Approximately 70 attackers wore the saffron headbands that symbolize the
militant Hindu nationalists. They attacked while worship was going on.
This attack is part of what the Times called a "new spate of attacks."
It also reports that in February, two church workers and a teen-age boy
were shot while praying and the boy was injured; two Christian
missionaries were beaten with rods while bicycling home; and a Christian
cemetery in Port Blair was vandalized. Those are just incidents that
have occurred this month. Unfortunately, they are part of a pattern that
church leaders described as a "reign of terror."
Since Christmas 1998, a number of priests have been murdered in India,
several nuns have been raped (with the enthusiastic endorsement of the
Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), another branch of the RSS), churches have
been burned, missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons have been
burned to death while sleeping in their jeep, Christian schools and
prayer halls have been attacked, and numerous other acts of violence
and/or hatred have taken place. In 1997, police opened fire on a
Christian religious festival, putting an end to it.
Last year, a member of the Indian Cabinet said that everyone who lives
in India must either be a Hindu or be subservient to Hindus. It is
clear, Mr. Speaker, that India intends to ram its Hindutva policy down
the throats of everyone in the subcontinent.
Christians are not the only ones being oppressed by the militant Hindu
regime in Delhi. Sikhs, Kashmiris, Dalits and others have also been
tyrannized in the name of Hindu nationalism. Just recently more
Kashmiris have been made to disappear by the Indian government. A report
by the Movement Against State Repression shows that India holds over
52,000 Sikh political prisoners and Amnesty International reports that
there are tens of thousands of others. The government's forces have
murdered more than a quarter of a million Sikhs, over 200,000 Christians
in Nagaland, over 75,000 Kashmiri-Muslims and thousands upon thousands
of people from the Dalit caste, as well as minorities such as Tamils,
Assamese, Manipuris, Bodos and others. How can India call itself a
democracy when things like this go on with the support of the
government? These are not the acts of a democracy.
It is important for America to speak out. I am speaking out today
because religious and political freedoms are essential democratic
values. America must bring its power to bear peacefully in support of
true democracy and freedom in South Asia, and if our influence does not
move the region toward real freedom, then we should be willing to use
whatever other peaceful means we have at our disposal to end the
violence and bring peace, freedom and stability to all the peoples and
nations there.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the Times article in the
[Congressional] RECORD [of the United States Congress] at this time.
==================================================
Publisher: The Washington Times - February 25, 2002
NEW SPATE OF ATTACKS TARGETS CHRISTIANS
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020225-11624548.htm
by JULIAN WEST
The Washington Times
NEW DELHI, India -- Violence against India's Christian minority has
surged this year, with reports of at least one attack each week in what
church leaders are calling a "reign of terror" spreading throughout the
country.
In the most recent incident, about 70 men wearing saffron headbands --
an emblem of the Hindu nationalists -- attacked a church near Mysore, in
South India, where children were attending a catechism class. The attack
last week seriously wounded about 20 people.
In other incidents this month:
- Two church workers and a teen-age boy were shot at while praying, and
the boy was injured.
- Two Christian missionaries were beaten with iron rods while bicycling
home.
- A Christian cemetery in Port Blair on the Andaman Islands was
vandalized.
Four of the attacks were in Uttar Pradesh, the North Indian state where
counting in local government elections ends today and where the Hindu
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fared poorly.
Much of the violence against Christians has taken place in states ruled
by the BJP, but church leaders say that last year the number of
incidents in states like Karnataka, which has a Congress party
government, has risen alarmingly.
In the latest and most violent incident in the state, an angry mob
wearing saffron headbands, carrying placards and shouting anti-Christian
slogans descended on the Holy Family church in Hinkal, a suburb of
Mysore, just after Mass last Sunday.
"The children were crying," said Father William, who was protected by
his parishioners. "They could see their parents being beaten up, from
the windows."
About 20 people were later taken to the hospital.
Describing the incident as unprecedented in a city whose roughly 30,000
Christians have previously had good relations with their Hindu
neighbours, Father Nerona, a member of the Diocesan Council, said that
he thought the attack had been provoked by a misunderstanding over a
round of Christmas carols.
"They said the carols were converting people, but actually the carol
singers only went to Catholic homes," he said. "We were terribly
shocked. This has always been such a peaceful city."
The recent attacks follow what church leaders call "a false lull,"
occuring after the international outrage last year over the burning
alive of Graham Staines, an Australian missionary, and his two small
sons last year.
"Physically, many of the incidents are now less obvious," said John
Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council. "But there
is a 24-hour reign of terror, which occasionally bursts into violence."
Last year the Indian government reported 240 incidents -- including
about 22 murders -- in the year leading up to 2000, and almost every
week newspapers carry an account of a ransacked church, an assaulted or
murdered priest or a vandalized cemetery.
Many of the assailants are members of the Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu
nationalist organization linked to the BJP, which has carried out many
of the most violent attacks on Christians in India.
Church leaders maintain, however, that all the attacks -- whether they
are carried out by the Bajrang Dal or its fellow Hindu nationalist
organizations -- have the tacit approval of the BJP government.
"The Bajrang Dal are ruffians, but someone must have told them what to
do the previous night," said Mr. Dayal.