[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 28, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1131-E1132]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CATHOLIC PRIEST MURDERED IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. DAN BURTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, June 27, 2000

  Mr. BURTON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, a publication entitled the 
Burning Punjab reported recently that another priest was murdered in 
India on Tuesday, June 6, 2000 by militant Hindu fundamentalist 
extremists. He was murdered in his mission near Mathura in the state of 
Uttar Pradesh. The priest, Brother George, was a 35-year-old member of 
the Borivili order.
  According to reports, the killers locked up Brother George's servant, 
broke into his room, and beat him to death. The assailants quickly 
escaped following the brutal attack. Because the crime seems to form a 
pattern with a previous incident in which a priest and two nuns were 
beaten in their rooms in Kosi Kalan, many people are beginning to 
believe that this act was the work of Hindu nationalist militants 
associated with a branch of the RSS, the parent organization of the 
ruling BJP. Several Christian organizations in India, including the 
All-India Catholic Union, the United Christian Forum of Human Rights, 
and the All-India Christian Council, have lodged strong protests about 
the incident with the government. They also condemned the attempt by 
the National Human Rights Commission to minimize two violent incidents 
against Christians in April. Unless the National Human Rights 
Commission begins taking these incidents seriously, it unfortunately 
will be regarded as a puppet for the government.
  Mr. Speaker, just recently I informed my colleagues that many people 
already believe that the March massacre of 35 Sikhs at Chatti Singhpora 
was the responsibility of government forces. In fact, two separate 
investigations have already implicated Indian government 
counterinsurgency forces in that brutal massacre.
  If we discover that these recent crimes have been committed by this 
group of BJP militants or government forces, India will have much 
explaining to do to this Congress. In fact, they should be held 
accountable for all their senseless actions. For years, I have been 
providing this Congress with reports that the Indian government has 
murdered over 250,000 Sikhs since 1984; 200,000 Christians in Nagaland 
since 1947; more than 65,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988; and tens of 
thousands of Assamese, Manipuris, Tamils, and Dalits.

[[Page E1132]]

  As a result, I still believe we should cut off U.S. development aid 
to India until it respects the hurpan rights of its people. Also, if we 
are looking for terrorism in South Asia, why are we completely ignoring 
India? Finally, we should openly support self-determination for the 
people of Christian Nagaland, of Khalistan, of Kashmir, and all the 
other nations seeking their freedom from India.
  We must make it clear that oppression in India must end and all 
people in South Asia must enjoy freedom. This pattern of oppression of 
Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, and other minorities is not going to end 
until America, the only superpower in the world, takes a strong stand 
and makes it clear to India that these actions are not acceptable, 
especially in a country that claims to be democratic.
  I am placing the article from Burning Punjab into the Record.

              [From the Burning Punjab News, June 7, 2000]

              Catholic Priest Murdered in His Mission Home

       New Delhi--A Catholic priest was murdered in his mission 
     home near Mathura in Uttar Pradesh last night, All-India 
     Catholic Union (AICU) alleged here. Quoting information from 
     Archbishop of Agra Diocese Vincent Concessao, AICU said in a 
     statement that ``brother George, a 35-year-old member of the 
     Borivili order, was found battered to death in Nevada in the 
     Adviki post area on the Mathura bypass.'' The Union also 
     alleged that though there were no indications about the 
     motives, the crime seemed to follow the pattern of violence 
     at Kosi Kalan earlier this year in which a priest and two 
     nuns were assaulted and their rooms ransacked. ``Early 
     information said some persons, still to be identified, 
     entered the house, locked up the servant, and then entered 
     George's room. They beat him up till he was dead and then 
     escaped in the night,'' the statement said. Besides AICU, 
     other church and human rights groups, including the United 
     Christian Forum for Human Rights and the All-India Christian 
     Council, lodged strong protests with the Government on the 
     violence. The church groups also condemned the alleged 
     attempt by the National Commission for Minorities, which sent 
     a team to Mathura and Agra in April to probe the attacks on 
     Christians, to ``trivialise'' the violence in its report.

     

                          ____________________