London rally will urge end to Orissa violence

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by Ed Beavan

Visible: a cross in the foreground during a protest against attacks on Christians in Southern India, on Friday PA

A RALLY calling for an end to the current wave of anti-Christian vio­lence in the Indian state of Orissa will take place in London tomorrow. About 50 Christians have been killed, and an estimated 50,000 forced to flee their homes in the north-eastern state as attacks on Christians have escalated across the country after the murder of a Hindu leader, Lakh­mananda Saraswati, in Orissa on 23 August (News, 29 August). Hindu extremists blamed Chris­tians for the murder, and then followed a spate of revenge attacks on Christian homes and churches. The violence has spread to other regions in India (News, 5 September). Ashok Masih Mattu, chairman of Indian Christian Concern, based in the UK, one of the groups organ­ising tomorrow’s rally, said that violence against Christians has in­creased since the murder of the Australian missionary Graham Staines in Orissa in 1999. “It’s a very, very sad situation, and I’ve never seen anything like it before. The Indian government has said it’s doing everything in its power to stop it, but the killing is still going on.” Last week, Hindu mobs burned down the house of the Roman Catholic Missionaries of Charity in the village of Sukananda in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. The house was empty at the time, as the Sisters had already fled. In response, Cardinal Varkey Vithayathil, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India, signed a statement on behalf of the group calling for “stronger and stringent action . . . against all kinds of anti-social and anti-religious elements that violate human rights and terrorise innocent people”. Christian Solidarity Worldwide this week urged the EU-India summit to make representations to the Indian government to “take decisive action” against the violence. Tomorrow’s march will be attended by the MPs John McDonald (Hayes and Harlington) and Virendra Shar­ma (Ealing and Southall) and repres­ent­atives of British Hindu groups. The demonstration will start at Richmond Terrace, by Victoria Em­bankment, at 2 p.m., and will deliver petitions to 10 Downing Street, and the Indian High Commission in Aldwych.