[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 123 (Tuesday, September 21, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1905]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    ANOTHER PRIEST MURDERED IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN T. DOOLITTLE

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 21, 1999

  Mr. DOOLITTLE. Mr. Speaker, another Christian missionary has been 
murdered in India, according to recent press reports. According to 
India West, the priest, whose name was Aruldoss, was killed on 
September 2 with poison arrows by a Hindu mob in the village of Jambani 
in the state of Orissa.
  This is the same region where Graham Staines, an Australian 
missionary, and his 8-year-old and 10-year-old sons were set on fire 
and murdered by a Hindu mob allied with the ruling party while they 
were sleeping in their van. The mob surrounded the van and kept anyone 
from getting to the Staines family, chanting ``Victory to Lord Ram'' 
while the Staines family was burning to death. Now the government has 
designated a single individual in the mob to take the fall in order to 
protect the government's allies.
  Apparently, Aruldoss has been involved in conversions of Hindus to 
Christianity. According to the Hindu fundamentalists who run the 
government and their allies, virtually all conversions are called 
``forced'' conversions. One of the ministers in the Orissa government, 
Ajit Tripathy, claimed that Christians were causing all the trouble by 
``trying to separate families after converting tribals and others, 
which is leading to social tensions.'' This kind of religious 
intolerance and excuse for mob violence has no place in a country that 
proudly labels itself ``the world's largest democracy.''
  Authorities have said that the mob was angry about the observance of 
a religious festival. While the Hindus in the region were celebrating 
the festival of Nuakhai, the local Christians were holding a festival 
of their own. Remember that in 1997, a Christian festival was broken up 
by police gunfire.
  There is a disturbing pattern of religious intolerance in India, not 
only towards Christians, but towards Muslims and Sikhs as well. None of 
these groups can enjoy full religious or political rights, and they are 
among the 17 freedom movements within India. The Indian government's 
response to these efforts to achieve freedom is bloodshed. Thousands 
are being held in Indian jails as political prisoners without charge or 
trial. Some have been there for 15 years.
  I would like to submit the India West article on this event into the 
Record to inform my colleagues about the kind of country that India 
really is.

             Orissa Priest Murdered, Linked to Conversions

       Bhubaneshwar--Unidentified assailants killed a Christian 
     missionary with poisoned arrows in a remote village in 
     Orissa, a senior government official said Sept. 2.
       ``Preliminary reports say that a Christian . . . was 
     attacked and killed by poisoned arrows last night,'' Orissa 
     state chief secretary Sahadeva Sahoo told Reuters by 
     telephone.
       Police said Sept. 3 that an incident linked to the 
     religious conversions of Hindus may have led to the murder of 
     a Christian priest in a remote eastern Indian village this 
     week.
       ``Local issues seem to have led to the killing,'' Pradeep 
     Kapoor, police chief of Mayurbhanj district in Orissa, told 
     Reuters. He was speaking by telephone from Karanjia town near 
     the village where the priest, identified only as Aruldoss, 
     was killed Sept. 2.
       ``It was a dispute over the observing of some festival,'' 
     Sahoo said, without giving details.
       ``It is a very remote, inaccessible jungle area. 
     Information is not coming easily. Even the ministers couldn't 
     go there because helicopters cannot land within 5 km (3 
     miles) of the jungle area,'' Sahoo said.
       Assailants shooting bows and arrows killed the missionary 
     in Jambani, a hamlet of only 12 families in Mayurbhanj 
     district.
       Christian groups and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee 
     have condemned the killing, which took place in the region 
     where an Australian missionary, Graham Staines, and his two 
     young sons were burnt to death in January as they slept in 
     their jeep.
       ``There was a dispute over the celebration of Nuakhai, a 
     Hindu festival. The (Christian) converts separately held the 
     festival which might have angered the nearby villagers,'' 
     Kapoor said.
       ``Several people have been rounded up for interrogation but 
     no one has been arrested so far,'' he said.
       Sahoo said earlier that two people had been arrested but 
     gave no details.
       Ajit Tripathy, the Orissa home secretary, said priests were 
     causing tension in the area.
       ``Catholic priests are trying to separate the families 
     after converting tribals and others, which is leading to 
     social tension,'' Tripathy said.
       Mayurbhanj district chief R. Balakrishnan said 10 of the 12 
     families in the hamlet had been converted recently by the 
     slain missionary.
       Christian missionaries had ignored warnings by authorities 
     after the killing of Staines not to visit remote villages 
     without informing them, he said.
       Staines also worked in the districts of Mayurbhanj and 
     Keonjhar.
       An inquiry into Staines' murder blamed a lone religious 
     fanatic wanted by police. It exonerated a Hindu group 
     considered close to Vajpayee's ruling Hindu nationalist 
     Bharatiya Janat. Party to which fingers of suspicion were 
     initially pointed.
       Hindu activists accuse Christian missionaries of using 
     coercion or economic incentives to force religious 
     conversions in remote tribal areas of India. Christian 
     missionaries deny the charge.
       Meanwhile, the Election Commission Sept. 5 rejected the 
     Orissa government's proposal to shift general of police Dilip 
     Mohapatra in the wake of his reported controversial remarks 
     on the killing of the priest.
       Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill told PTI: ``We are in 
     the midst of elections which will end by October 10. 
     Therefore, the commission desires that Mohapatra, who is a 
     key functionary, be not be shifted till October 10.''
       Gill made it clear that the Orissa chief secretary, home 
     secretary and the DGP should under no circumstances be 
     disturbed in any manner till the conclusion of the poll 
     process.
       The state government had sought the commission's permission 
     to transfer and revert Mohapatra to the rank of additional 
     DGP for his reported remarks linking Catholic priest 
     Aruldoss's killing to ``forced conversions.''
       Chief Minister Giridhar Gamang faced an angry outburst from 
     church leaders Sept. 4, who demanded immediate suspension of 
     home secretary Ajit Kumar Tripathy as well over his reported 
     statement that Catholic priests were trying to split families 
     through conversions.
       Gamang had gone to attend the funeral of the slain priest 
     at Balasore.

     

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