Tue, 09/03/2010 - 7:35pm Karnataka state banning cow slaughter

Bangalore, Mar 9 -BJP government in Karnataka today reintroduced in the assembly a bill banning cow slaughter amid protests and dharna .

The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2010, was withdrawn only last week, without assigning any reason

Minister for Law S Suresh Kumar asserted that "we have right to do it (introduce the bill)".

Pandemonium prevailed as Animal Husbandry Minister Revunaik Bilamagi rose to introduce the bill which was described as "draconian", anti-poor, anti-Dalit and anti-backward classes, charging that BJP has hidden agenda.

Tue, 09/03/2010 - 4:05pm Why not Charity Begin at Home?

By Fr. Anand Muttungal
Communal violence has been a burning problem faced by Christians in many North Indian States but it remained un-addressed for years. The anti-Muslim riots in 1992 united the Muslims to face the fanatics. The increased violence in Southern states and prolonged violence in Khandmal, Orissa has made the Church to think seriously on this issue.
The worry of the Church is expressed in the report red out in the 29th Plenary General Assembly of CBCI in Guwati. It reads, ‘attacks against Christians have taken place in several states….. Even more villainous was the malicious damage to human relations with a systematic campaign that tried to divide communities. What shocked Church leaders and others was that areas they thought were safe from the antagonism of fundamentalist groups also experienced violence….’ It has become a political issue that began to be at the centre of Christians all over India .
The extent of violence unlashed by the fundamental organizations is indefinable. They got their supporters into most political parties, media, Government structures, Private sectors, religious establishments, NGOs etc. They implement their plan of Hindu Rashtra through them. They have not only physically attacked the community but also at all levels like delaying the files of Christians in the Government offices, malicious propaganda in the media etc. are part of the vicious circle created by the fundamentalists. They have succeeded in creating a general notion among the people that all Christian activities are aimed at religious conversion. People began to suspect their activities in the villages where they had good relations. The more dangerous ideology fundamentalists coined of late is the equation of Hindutva with nationalism and religious conversion is being seen as attacks against Indian Nationalism and Cultural Nationalism. In short they are spreading the ideology that to be an Indian and Nationalistic one needs to be a Hindu. Every one against this ideology is considered an enemy of the Country. It is the deadliest form of fundamentalism akin to Nazism.

Tue, 09/03/2010 - 9:03am Past. T.T. Joseph entered into glory on 8th March

Bangalore
past. T.T. Joseph State President and Senior minister of IPC entered into glory with Lord on 8th March.Pastor TT has left a void in the hearts of many believers across the world.Global council of Indian Christians(GCIC) joins with the believers to pray for the bereaved family members and friends.May god continue to bless the mission and vision of IPC.

Tue, 09/03/2010 - 7:28am Open Letter to Karnataka CM-Justice Saldhana

Bangalore

Act practiced by the(karnataka) State Government which is directly responsible for the horrifying communal attacks that are continuing unabated and which are on the increase. Shimoga and Hassan are the latest examples.The Vijaya Karnataka Newspaper through its Editor – Vishweshwar Bhat has been repeatedly publishing extremely inflammatory editorials and articles targeting the Christian community. That newspaper has been rewarded by your Government with publicity advertisements worth over Rs. 100.00 Crores(20 Million US$) in the course of the last two years

In your capacity as Chief Minister and Head of the Government of Karnataka, you have officially stated that the Government will take stringent action according to Law against every individual and publication which is in anyway responsible for inciting communal disharmony and particularly in relation to the publication of articles that are inflammatory and which attack religious and communal sentiments. I am happy that you have said this, but it is equally essential for me to record the double standards that are in act practiced by the State Government which is directly responsible for the horrifying communal attacks that are continuing unabated and which are on the increase. Shimoga and Hassan are the latest examples.

The attacks against the Churches and more importantly, the atrocities committed against the members of the Christian community and their institutions after your Government assumed office erupted out of all proportions in September 2008 and globally shamed Karnataka. I have personally conducted a detailed investigation / enquiry into these incidents and have recorded the fact that they are Government supported, Government instigated and covered up for by the State Government. I am confining this letter to one such instance and after your official pronouncement made today, I am calling upon the State Government to proceed according to Law in this case.

The Vijaya Karnataka Newspaper through its Editor – Vishweshwar Bhat has been repeatedly publishing extremely inflammatory editorials and articles targeting the Christian community. That newspaper has been rewarded by your Government with publicity advertisements worth over Rs. 100.00 Crores in the course of the last two years. Incidentally, the financial position of the Government has been so precarious that Government employees particularly in the rural areas have not received their salaries for months together and many of them have been driven to suicide while the Government has enough of money to publish full page colour ads of the CM and his Colleagues everyday spending crores of public money in order to cover up for the total failures on the economic front.

The Vijaya Karnataka Newspaper published one extremely offensive article in the month of December 2008, which resulted in very strong reactions and huge public protest from all over the country by right thinking citizens belonging to all communities. I have seen the article which is one of the most vicious, offensive and venomous pieces of writing directed against the Christian community and is sufficient to invoke the maximum jail sentence against the Writer – Byrappa, the Editor - Vishweshwar Bhat, the Printer and the Publishers. This was published at a point of time when the police all over the State and particularly in the Karavali area were indiscriminately registering false cases against members of the minority community and against any secular publication that disapproved of religious and human rights atrocities. This misuse of power has invoked strictures from the High Court and Orders for Exemplary Damages.

In sharp contrast, when the Head of the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) filed FIR 0343 at the Mangalore South Police Station on 27.12. 2008, the police refused to take cognizance on the grounds that they required to get clearance from your most trusted colleague Dr. V.S. Acharya, the Home Minister of the State. In the course of my hearings in Mangalore, I have questioned the Police Authorities as to how and under what circumstances they have refused to act in this case and the answer given was that the Head of the Home Department has instructed them not to proceed. Is there a Rule of Law in Karnataka?

Similarly, in respect of this very article and this very newspaper, another FIR No. 0002 was filed at the Bangalore North Police Station by an aggrieved member of the community on 02.01.2009 and again, under the Home Minister’s directions, no action has been taken. At the same time, this very Home Minister directed the Police to register nine false FIRs against the Editor of ‘Karavali Ale’ in different Police Stations spread over Mangalore and Udipi on absolutely false, imaginary and unsustainable allegations that he is inciting communal disharmony merely because that publication disapproved of the Government inspired violence against the members of the Christian community.

It is up to your Government to redeem the position in the light of your announcements made, and that will be proof as to whether the statements made by the Head of the Government are genuine or not.

- Justice Michael F Saldanha

Mon, 08/03/2010 - 8:25pm "We stayed in hiding for 10 days - Lazara Digal from Kandhamal

Orissa: "To avoid being killed, we went days without food in the forest"
One victim tells his story of the violence last June in Orissa. His father, a Christian pastor Biswanath Digal was beaten to death.( Nirmala Carvalho)

New Delhi (AsiaNews) - "During the last wave of anti-Christian violence, Hindu fanatics first destroyed the church in our village, then burned the houses of Christians and completely destroyed by fire whatever was inside. Then they started to look for us Christians to kill us. To save ourselves and we had to flee to the forest and the hills and remain hidden". Lazara Digal, the only son of a Christian pastor Biswanath Digal from the village Ladapadar (in Kandhamal district in Orissa), assassinated in those days, recalls the horror of recent anti-Christian violence and points his finger at absent authorities.

95 persecuted Christians attended the 5th Meeting on National Persecution, in Bangalore on March 4 and 5, organized by the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC) in the presence of over 250 groups Christian and non-Christians. A special mention was made of Kaunri Digal, widow of the slain pastor.

"We stayed in hiding for 10 days - continued Lazara Digal-without food beneath pouring rain. There were about 20 families, we could only cry and pray to God After 10 days we learned that the police had arrived. Then we came back. The police assured us that they would protect us if we returned to the village. In the houses in the village there was nothing left, not even enough rice to eat, we could not resume our normal work. So many we decided to go to Bhunaneswar or Cuttack, to find work and earn a living. But our parents stayed behind in the village. "

"On June 4, 2009 my father, the pastor Biswanath Digal, along with the Christian Prasanth Digal, went by motorcycle to Phulbani, about 14 kilometers from Ladapadar. Having done their work and some shopping, at 7 pm they were returning home. But some Hindu extremists had noticed them and a group of 40 or 50 was waiting for them, armed with sticks and axes. When the two Christians were in Minia, near the forest of Pidiakali, the group jumped out and stopped them. They were drunk, they insulted them and started to hit them with sticks, shouting Jai Sri Ram and Jai Bajrang Bali ki Jai! 'Kill the shepherd, so other Ladapadar Christians will become Hindus '. They were beaten unconscious. Thinking they were dead, they left them there. They remained there for 2-3 hours before a traveller saw them and informed the police of Bisipadar”.

"The police took them to hospital in the district of Phulbani. After two days of treatment, my father still had not regained consciousness. Since we had no money to pay, on the advice of doctors we took him to the hospital in Cuttack, on June 7. For days I tooke care of him, without any result. In the end the doctors said to take him home. But we had no house, because it was destroyed by Hindu fanatics".

"On 19 June we brought him to a relative low in districts of Bhubaneswar. He died June 23, without ever having regained consciousness. We returned to our village and buried him there. My mother suffered a stroke from the loss. She can not walk. "

Mon, 08/03/2010 - 8:02pm Pastor brutally beaten up in Karnataka

Pastor Ravi Chandran , aged 30 years was brutally beaten up by Hindu radicals in Periyapattinam, Mysore on 8th March 2010. Pastor was conducting a prayer at believers Mr Manju and Subramanya’s house in Banavara Village, Periyapattinam At 11.30 am a group of about 10-15 Hindu radicals forcefully entered the house and began abusing the pastor and believers and started attacking the pastor.

The pastor was brutally attacked by the radicals. The group hit the pastor with soda bottles and also kicked and punched him mercilessly. After beating up the pastor, the radical groups disappeared from the venue.

The believers then taken the pastor to the Periyapattinam Government hospital and was admitted immediately.

The pastor is suffering from leg injury and swelling on the head because of the attack.

Pastor Ravi Chandran is a native of Chankeshwara Puram , Periyapattinam He accepted Jesus Christ as his personal savior about 10 years back and has been in the ministry for the past 7 years.

He is married to Daisy, 28 years and has a daughter and a son. Pastor is ministering in Gospel in action fellowship and has about 35 believers.

The matter has been reported to the Somvarpet police station .

Please pray for the pastor and his ministry.