Thousands hide in forests as mobs of savages unleash terror in Orissa

The notorious scoundrels are at it again, doing what their filthy hands do best – kill, burn, loot, rape, murder, terrorise and destroy. This time it is in India’s eastern state of Orissa. Now, it is the turn of India’s Christian minority to be at the receiving end of the violence from gangs of scum beings.

Criminal scoundrels have done irrepairable damage to India’s image as a secular, tolerant country . . .

Image: http://www.timesofmalta.com

A Hindu religious leader and four of his associates were gunned down in the state of Orissa. The Maoist guerrillas are reported to have carried out the killings. A person who identified himself as Azad, a leader of the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army, a Maoist outfit, has claimed responsibility for the killing. The Church and Christian leaders had condemned the killings in the strongest terms. But this was exactly the opportunity that hordes of blood-thirsty thugs were waiting for. The criminals were not going to let go of this opportunity to indulge in some obnoxious acts of barbarism. The disgusting scum beings have gone about it systematically. The result? Two dozen dead, a nun gang-raped, thousands of homes destroyed and the belongings of the owners looted, more than a hundred churches and prayer halls burned down, hundreds of others attacked, beaten, humiliated and tortured with the law enforcement machinery either completely absent or in a few cases just looking on as the scum beings went about indulging in acts of savagery. Thousands were forced to flee their homes and hide in the forests of the eastern state to save their lives. Many are still hiding in the jungles, while others have moved into overcrowded “refugee camps” with pathetic facilities.

The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has called the violence against Christians in Orissa “a national shame”. And a shame it is! A shame on humanity! No civilised person would ever approve of such filthy crimes. But unfortunately, the world (including India) is not short of people with sordid, disgusting, backward, regressive, savage mindsets. They would be quite pleased to hear this. They would be happy that helpless people are being killed. These filthy acts of violence against innocent people would warm their hate-filled hearts as it fits in well with their despicable ideology of hate.

Civilised Indians are extremely worried about the turn of events. A citizens’ delegation has met the President, Pratibha Patil, and presented a memorandum to her. Here are some excerpts:

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Memorandum to the President of India

September 1, 2008

Shrimati Pratibha Patil
The President of India

Your Excellency,

You are aware of the still continuing carnage against the Christian community, mostly Dalits and Tribals, in the Kandhamal district of Orissa and in several other districts including the state capital of Bhubaneswar since 23rd August 2003 following the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati, reportedly by Maoist groups who have been operating in the state for some time. The violence has now spread to some other states, especially Madhya Pradesh.

Nine months after attacks in Kandhamal District on Christians of Dalit, Hill peoples and Tribal ethnicity celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, we are deeply saddened by a repeat of the violence in the month of India’s Independence. The Christmas 2007 attacks claimed the lives of at least four Christians, and we verified the destruction of at least 105 churches and 730 Christian homes. The current spate of violence will exceed these totals as it continues to spread into other districts. Our estimate from Ground Zero is of close to two dozen people dead, one a Hindu girl burnt to death working for a Christian orphanage, a Nun has been gang raped, religious men and women personnel humiliated, beaten, tortured, some close to death, while policemen have looked on, or have been absent. We appeal for the restoration of law and order. But the root cause must also be addressed.

We, the secular civil society community, perceive that the great nation of India is at a tipping point. The groups, which favour a “Hindu Rashtra”, have made Orissa their laboratory, as they earlier did Gujarat. The so-called saffronisation of the state has been the subject of well-documented academic and socio-political studies. We entreat you, as President of the Republic, to enforce the rule of law upon Sangh Parivar organisations which blatantly flaunt their divisive agenda. Specifically, we call upon you to bring the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, and Bajrang Dal under the rule of law.

As Orissa authorities have repeatedly said there was ample circumstantial evidence of Maoist involvement in the killing of VHP leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati and four others on August 23rd. Additionally, someone who identified himself as Azad, a leader of Maoist outfit, People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army claim responsibility for the killing as Times of India carries the news on August 30 referring to an interview with a leading Oriya daily on August 29.1 Yet Praveen Togadia, VHP general secretary, told an international journalist on August 27, “It is clear that the church killed the Swami.”2 Gouri Prasad Rath, Orissa state VHP secretary, said, “This attack is the handiwork of the Christians.”3 Subhash Chavan, national co-convener of the Bajrang Dal, said, “The police are trying to hide the truth by blaming the Maoists.”4 An unnamed RSS spokesperson said, “This is an attack by the agents of Christian missionaries, whose attempts at forcible conversions the Swamiji countered.”5 RSS spokesperson Ram Madhav told CNN IBN on Tuesday night6 that Christians were behind the murders. Perhaps based on a media report7, Madhav The final word lay with RSS supreme Kupahalli Sudershan who in a Press Statement faxed to the Media called the late VHP vice President a martyr for “stopping Christians from carrying on coversions.” These types of irresponsible statements must be met with the full force of the law. They are all culpable for penal action under IPC 295A for the crime of creating enmity between communities and religions. This would benefit not only Orissa, but the nation. We sincerely wish Swami Saraswati was not murdered and he still might be alive if the state government had followed the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities. The NCM urged the authorities to examine the speeches of Swami Lakshmanananda to determine whether they amount to incitement to violence.8 9 We are confident that, if this had been done, the swami would have been jailed and protected from coming to any harm.

Your Excellency, the violence in Orissa continues without adequate police forces to stop mobs which break curfew and harm innocent civilians, chasing our fellow countrymen and women like animals in the forests where they have taken refuge since August 24. Today the irresponsible leaders of hardliner Hindu nationalist groups are damaging our great democracy and secularism of the nation. We request you to order the Union Government and the State Administration to take legal action against the irresponsible organisations which called the bundh on Monday, Aug. 25, 2008 and have passively watched their members wreak havoc. They must, of course, fully investigate the murder of the VHP vice President. This is to request you to use your powers as President of India, and the tremendous force of your good offices, to impress on the Central Government to rush adequate Union forces, including contingents of the Armed Forces if required, to restore law and order and governance in the Kandhamal region.

The consequences of any further delay, we the secular civil society fear, may be catastrophic for the small Christian community in the State in particular, for peace in Orissa in general, and for the fair name of India as a secular country.
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These criminals have brought shame upon Hinduism, Orissa and India! The killers are India’s equivalent of the dreaded Taliban scum beings! Shame on the barbarians!