Updates on Orissa (Photos)

Pictures speak louder than words, here's what's happening there.

ORGANISED ANTI-CHRISTIAN VIOLENCE IN INDIA

Released by NECF:

Over 50 Christians killed, multitudes raped and brutally injured and 50,000 displaced

The violent anti-Christian pogrom (organised campaign of persecution or extermination) that flared up on 23 August in Kandhamal district in the north-east Indian state of Orissa has spread to nine districts, indicating a high level of VHP (Hindu World Council) orchestration. More than 50 Christians have been killed and multitudes have been raped, bashed, burned and slashed. Some 50,000 Christians are displaced. Even the relief camps are being attacked but, praise God, two attempts to poison their water supplies have been thwarted. Furthermore, anti-Christian violence is now erupting in other states. Churches have been torched in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka whilst nuns from Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity were violently assaulted in Chhattisgarh. The central government appears paralysed. Please pray for God's intervention.

Read below to know more about how it all started. The article is lengthy but provides a good information to help you better understand the situation. Meanwhile, please PRAY SPECIFICALLY for:

• God's merciful intervention to protect the lives of his people, thanking him that multitudes were spared when attempts to poison relief camps' water supplies were foiled.
• the Holy Spirit to bring peace, comfort and supernatural grace to the grieving loved ones and fellow believers of more than 50 Christians who have now been killed.
• the 50,000 displaced Christians to find a unity previously unknown; may the Church emerge from this fire in solidarity, brotherly love and faith in Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit forges Christian unity across race, caste and denomination.
• God to use the shame of this violence to trigger a national awakening in India; may Indians across the nation reject Hindu nationalism, recognising its ugliness and despising its violence.
• the present troubles to provide the Church with an opportunity to share and explain the gospel in ways previously unattainable.

HOW THE VIOLENCE CAME ABOUT
In 1969 a Hindutva (Hindu nationalist) proselytiser named Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati established an Ashram (Hindu religious centre) in Kandhamal district, Orissa state, north-east India, and committed himself to countering the work of Christian missionaries.
He never succeeded in stopping conversions to Christianity but, with state government support, he has turned Orissa into a tinderbox of communal tension. As Hindutva-isation has advanced (especially since 2005) Hindutva zealotry and anti-Christian hatred have escalated, priming whole communities for genocide.

Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati organised and incited an anti-Christian Hindu pogrom in Kandhamal district in December 2007 that left a path of destruction and many thousands of Christians displaced. He urged the Hindus of Kandhamal via mobile phone messaging to burn the homes and churches of Christians and repeat the 'revolution' that brought 'peace' to Gujarat (referring to the 2002 Hindu pogrom that left some 2000 Muslims dead).

On 23 August 2008 Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati was ambushed and shot dead. From the evidence this was a targeted assassination perpetrated by a group of well-armed Maoist guerrillas who as egalitarian left-wingers are natural enemies of the caste- perpetuating right-wing Hindu nationalists. Despite this, Hindu leaders in Orissa publicly charged the Christian community with killing the Swami because of his anti-conversion campaign. A violent Hindu pogrom erupted.

Numerous Christians have been burnt, beaten, raped and slashed with swords. In Kandhamal alone some 13,000 Christians are living in refuges and tent camps. The violence has spread into surrounding districts and 50,000 Christians are estimated to have fled their homes ahead of violent religious cleansing and are now displaced across Orissa, with many hiding in dense jungle.
On 29 August over 40,000 Christian educational institutions throughout India closed in a nationwide protest against the anti- Christian violence. These institutions are now facing a backlash, particularly in BJP-ruled states like Karnartaka where the state government has ordered officials to take action against the schools for closing without government permission.

The level of violence is shocking. A 20-year-old nun was burned alive in an orphanage. Another young nun was pack-raped. A senior priest and nun were stripped and violently degraded before a crowd of cheering spectators, including known local government officials and several police. Hundreds of churches have been vandalised, looted and torched as have thousands of Christian homes. Archbishop Raphael Cheenath has petitioned the Supreme Court for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the violence and the state's failure to maintain law and order.

On Saturday 13 September, police in Kandhamal district, Orissa, dispersed a crowd of Hindus preparing to attack Christians. Two days later, some 500 angry Hindus took revenge on the police by torching the police station and firing at the police as they fled, shooting one fatally. This Hindu anti-Christian pogrom continuing in Orissa is also erupting in Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand states. In Karnataka on Sunday morning 14 September, Hindu extremists launched virtually simultaneous attacks on at least 14 churches across the three coastal districts of Dashina Kannada, Udupi and Chikmagalur. Tensions are especially high in Mangalore where there has also been rioting. Militants have promised more attacks and the BJP state government is launching an investigation into organisations that use foreign funds to allegedly forcibly convert Hindus to Christianity. The situation is extremely serious.

Please pray for our brethren. Will keep you posted if I receive more news on this.