[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 18, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E500]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INDIAN POLICE COLLECTING DATA ON CHRISTIANS

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                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 18, 2003

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I was disturbed to read an article in the 
Hindustan Times saying that Indian police are collecting data on 
Christians in Gujarat. Gujarat is the site of the massacres of Muslims 
last March in which 2,000 to 5,000 Muslims were killed. Hasn't Gujarat 
seen enough trouble?
  According to the report, the All-India Christian Council submitted a 
memorandum to the state police chief detailing the survey. The police 
are seeking information on family sizes, job profiles, sources of 
funds, and even whether the person is a first-generation Christian and/
or has converted. At least 25 Christian institutions have been 
questioned in just a few days. The article quotes Bishop Gregory of 
Rajkot as saying that he was asked ``about the number of Christians and 
institutions here.'' Father Cedric Prakash of the United Christian 
Forum for Human Rights predicts that ``this survey may be a buildup to 
the anticonversion bill.''
  India has already outlawed conversions to any religion but Hinduism 
in two states. Recently the ruling BJP has begun an effort to make that 
national.
  This is outrageous, Mr. Speaker. It is a major violation of religious 
freedom, which is one of the main pillars of a democracy. Instead, 
India is again acting like a Hindu fundamentalist theocracy.
  In 1997, a Christian festival on the theme ``Jesus is the answer'' 
ended when the police fired their guns at it to close it down after 
they received complaints that the festival was converting people. 
Missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, ages 8 and 10, were 
murdered while they slept in their jeep. The murderers surrounded the 
jeep and chanted ``Victory to Hannuman, `` according to contemporaneous 
news reports. None of these people has been held accountable. Now an 
American missionary, Joseph Cooper, has been expelled from India after 
being severely beaten by Hindu nationalists.
  Since 1998, Christian priests have been murdered, nuns have been 
raped, churches have been burned as they were in the Old South during 
segregation, Christian schools and prayer halls have been violently 
attacked. Since India's independence in 1947, its forces have murdered 
over 200,000 Christians. They have also murdered over 250,000 Sikhs 
since 1984, over 85,000 Kashmiri Muslims since 1988, and tens of 
thousands of Dalits, Bodos, Assainese, Manipuris, Tamils, and other 
minorities. Many lowercaste Hindus are converting to Christianity and 
other religions and now the BJP is passing laws to prohibit this.
  Mr. Speaker, these are the acts of a theocratic tyranny, not a real 
democracy. We must impose the sanctions appropriate for a violator of 
religious freedom. We must also stop our aid and trade with India until 
it begins to allow the exercise of basic human and religious rights. 
And we must support selfdetermination for all the people of South Asia 
as the best way to bring real freedom, peace, stability, and prosperity 
to that troubled region.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to place the Hindustan Times article into 
the Record at this time.

                [From the Hindustan Times, Mar. 9, 2003]

              Gujarat Christians Allege Survey of Families

                            (By Rathin Das)

       Ahmedabad, March 8.--The Gujarat Police have reportedly 
     started a discreet survey of Christians in some parts of the 
     state, seeking information on family sizes, job profiles and 
     sources of foreign funds. The All-India Christian Council, 
     which submitted a memorandum to the state police chief on 
     Friday, is planning to move the High Court over the issue 
     next week.
       State Director General of Police K. Chakravarthy told the 
     Hindustan Times that no statewide survey had been ordered. He 
     added, however, that some information might have been sought 
     from some people on the orders of district police chiefs.
       A senior home department official echoed the state police 
     chief. He told the Hindustan Times that no survey of 
     Christians had been ordered. ``It may be a survey about 
     foreign funds and its use, but that is applicable for 
     institutions of all communities,'' he said.
       But despite official denials, community leaders alleged 
     that policemen came calling at some houses in Ahmedabad, 
     Sabarkantha, Banaskantha and Kutch districts over the past 
     few days and asked about the antecedents and assets of 
     Christian families.
       Community leaders also said at least 25 Christian 
     institutions and families had been questioned over the past 
     few days. Police personnel who visited Christian 
     institutions, they said, wanted information on the number of 
     Christians in the area and other details, like the sources of 
     their funds. Bishop Gregory of Rajkot, who was questioned by 
     the police on Friday, said: ``I was asked about the number of 
     Christians and institutions here.'' The police also asked him 
     to contact the nearest police station if he needed help, 
     Bishop Gregory told this correspondent.
       The police have also asked some Christians whether they 
     converted voluntarily or under pressure, and whether they 
     were first-generation Christians.
       ``This survey may be a build-up to the anti-conversion bill 
     the government wants to introduce in the state assembly 
     during this session,'' said Father Cedric Prakash of the 
     United Christian Forum for Human Rights.
       One church leader in Saurashtra was asked whether 
     Christians would hold demonstrations if the anti-conversion 
     bill is introduced in the assembly, sources said.
       Individual Christians are scared to speak to the press as 
     many of them are in government employment. In the wake of the 
     attack on Christians and the burning of churches in the Dangs 
     district around Christmas 1998, the state intelligence 
     department had ordered a similar survey, but abandoned it 
     after a petition was filed in the Gujarat High Court.
       Minority report:
       July 1998--Copies of the New Testament burnt in a Rajkot 
     school;
       Oct 1998--Christian congregation attacked in Vadodara;
       Dec 1998--Government threatens to stop grants to Christian 
     schools;
       Dec 1998--Churches razed in Dangs district;
       Jan 1999--PM visits Dangs, calls for national debate on 
     conversions;
       Feb 1999--Secret survey ordered, first of Christians, later 
     of Muslims;
       Jan 2000--Government lifts ban on employees joining RSS.

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