[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 12]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 16890-16891]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                     CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION IN INDIA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 26, 2000

  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, I recently joined with 20 of our colleagues 
in a letter to President Clinton urging him to declare India a 
terrorist state because of its repression of Christians Sikhs, and 
other minorities. Today in India, Christians, Sikhs, Muslims, and 
others are being subjected to a reign of terror at the hands of the 
Indian government. Since Christmas Day 1998, there has been a wave of 
persecution and terrorism against Christians in India. Churches have 
been burned, Christian schools and prayer halls have been attacked, 
nuns have been raped, and priests have been killed.
  Earlier this month, two more churches were bombed in the Indian state 
of Karnataka, according to a report from Newsroom.org. These attacks 
came just a month after a Catholic church was bombed in Bangalore. This 
is a frightening reminder of the resistance to civil rights in the 
South of the 1950s.
  Late last month, a Hindu woman poured boiling oil on a group of 
militant Hindu nationalists who were attacking her tenant, a Catholic 
priest. Four Christian missionaries were beaten last month, one so 
severely that he may lose his arms and legs. These missionaries were 
beaten for distributing Christian religious literature and Bibles. The 
RSS, a Fascist organization that is the parent organization of the 
ruling BJP, has published a booklet on how to implicate Christians in 
false criminal cases. On Easter, a group of nuns on their way to Easter 
services were run down by Hindu fundamentalists riding motor scooters. 
In March, a Sikh family saved some nuns whose convent was attacked by 
Hindu fundamentalists.
  Last month, a women's prayer meeting was bombed by militant Hindu 
fundamentalists. In April, fundamentalist Hindus attacked a Christian 
group and burned biblical literature. These

[[Page 16891]]

are, unfortunately, just the latest incidents in a pattern of 
oppression of Christians.
  The pattern has been long term. Last fall, Hindu fundamentalists 
aligned with the ruling BJP abducted a nun named Sister Ruby and forced 
her to drink their urine. Hindus chanting ``Victory to Hannuman,'' a 
Hindu god, burned missionary Graham Staines to death along with his 8-
year-old and 10-year-old sons, while they slept in their jeep. The 
violence has been carried out by the RSS and other allies and 
supporters of the BJP government in India and no one ever seems to be 
punished for these acts.
  Sikhs and Muslims have also been targeted, and we should take note of 
that. In March, while President Clinton was visiting India, 35 Sikhs 
were murdered in the village of Chithi Singhpora. Two independent 
investigations have shown that the Indian government carried out this 
massacre. This, too, is part of a pattern of genocide.
  India's campaign of terror against minorities is clearly designed to 
wipe out the minorities. It is time to declare India a terrorist state 
and it is time to cut off American aid to India to help strengthen the 
hand of human rights there. And we should support self-determination 
for all the minority nations seeking their freedom from India. The 
predominantly Christian nation of Nagalim, which India holds, is about 
to begin talks with the Indian government on their political status. I 
hope that these talks will be the beginning of freedom not just for the 
people of Nagaland but for all the minority peoples and nations of 
South Asia.
  Strong action must be taken. We should cut off India's aid until 
human rights are respected. We should demand self-determination for the 
people of Khalistan, Kashmir, Nagalim, and the other minority nations 
under Indian rule in the form of a free and fair plebiscite on the 
question of independence. That is the way democratic nations do it. Is 
India the democracy it claims to be or not?
  I would like to place the Newsroom article of July 10 into the Record 
for the information of my colleagues. I urge my colleagues to take a 
look at it.

              Two Churches Hit With Bomb Attacks in India

  July 10, 2000 (Newsroom)--Bomb blasts damaged two churches in India's 
southern Karnataka state over the weekend as Christians across the 
nation staged marches and rallies to protest sectarian violence.
  Early on Saturday a low-intensity bomb exploded at the doors of a 
Protestant church in Hubli, about 270 miles north of the state capital, 
Bangalore. Police the blast occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. at 
St. John's Lutheran Church in Hubli's Keshavapura area, which has a 
15,000-strong Christian population. The explosion damaged the church's 
steel gates and its belfry, but no injuries were reported, police said.
  On Sunday an explosion left a small crater and shattered windows in 
the St. Peter and Paul Church in Bangalore.
  The attack in Hubli came exactly one month after a bomb blast shook a 
Roman Catholic church in Wadi in the north Karnataka town of Gulbarga. 
Three other bomb attacks on churches occurred on June 8, in the coastal 
town of Goa and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Police say that 
the attack on Saturday is similar to the June 8 blasts, which are still 
under investigation.
  The federal government blames sympathizers of the Pakistan 
intelligence agency ISI (Inter Service Intellegence) and claims the 
neighboring nation is out to destabilize India and drive a wedge 
between Christians and Hindus.
  Church leaders allege, however, that right-wing Hindu groups are 
behind a series of attacks against India's 23 million Christians, and 
may be responsible for the latest church bombings. Christians believe 
many of the Hindu groups are closely connected to near the Hindu 
nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the federal 
government's ruling coalition. A number of marginalized social groups 
have been victims of radical Hindus who go unpunished by the regime, 
said Sajan George, national convenor of the Global Council of Indian 
Christians. ``It becomes clear from these attacks that whether it is 
Christians, Muslims, or Dalits, the attacks never end; they are part of 
the continuing spiral built into the sectarian ideology, out to justify 
acts of blatant violence and denial of fundamental rights to life, 
equality before the law, freedom of religion, and freedom of 
expression,'' George said after the Hubli church bombing.
  In the BJP-ruled northern state of Uttar Pradesh a Roman Catholic 
priest was murdered last month as he slept in the town of Mathura, near 
the Taj Mahal. One of the key witnesses to the murder, a cook called 
Ekka, died mysteriously under police custody.
  Bangalore was one, of several state capitals where Christians marched 
on Saturday in remembrance of victims of religious persecution and in 
protest of continuing violence. At a rally in Hyderabad on Sunday the 
president of the All India Christian Council, Joseph D'Souza, read a 
list of demands to which a crowd of some 100,000 expressed agreement by 
raising their hands. The demands included state protection for church 
property and arrest and prosecution of all who openly engage in hate 
campaigns against Christians.
  The Deccan Herald of Bangalore reported Monday that city police had 
been directed by the Congress Party-led Karnataka government to step up 
security churches and other places of worship.

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