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INDIA: Victims of anti-Christian attacks left to rot in slums
By John Newton
A map of India
Camps for Christians who fled mob violence in Orissa, east India, last August have been forcibly closed – but refugees are still too scared to return home.
Speaking from India, journalist Anto Akkara told Aid to the Church in Need that even though the state government had officially dissolved the camps, there were still about 1,000 Christians living in tents.
At their height the displacement camps housed 50,000 refugees, many of whom have now gone back to their villages.
But Mr Akkara said that most of the Christians who had not returned are living in the slums of Bhubaneswar, the state capital of Orissa.
They feared the government will not be able to protect them should violence erupt again, he said.
His remarks follow the decision of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom earlier this month to put India on its ‘Watch List’ for “the government’s largely inadequate response in protecting its religious minorities”.
Marie-Ange Siebrecht, Aid to the Church in Need’s India expert, said the national government’s assistance for refugees Christians in Orissa was still unsatisfactory.
She said: “The government is dissolving the camps now, but this does not solve the problems of the refugees, because the Christians dare not venture back into their villages because of threats of fundamentalist Hindus.”
She also said that displaced Christians usually lacked the means to support themselves, since compensation payments promised by the government had often “gone missing.”
Ms Siebrecht’s remarks follow demands from local church representatives that the national authorities should provide better protection for religious minorities.
She added her voice to those demanding that the state government of Orissa should create safe areas, so that all Christians could return to their villages without fear of attack.
Aid to the Church in Need has been supporting successful schemes in places where there may be fears that Christians will be the target of attacks if they return.
Meanwhile Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar is taking a lead in organising peace-building projects, with the support of Aid to the Church in Need.
Communities – especially the young – have been encouraged to undertake joint activities to help rebuild trust and cooperation.
Aid to the Church in Need provided initial emergency relief for those in the camps, including temporary tent chapels where Mass could be said, and has promised to help rebuild churches and other buildings destroyed in the violence.
Help to rebuild the Church in Orissa remains a top priority for Aid to the Church in Need following last year’s attacks against Christians, in which more than 70 people were killed, 5,031 homes were attacked and 171 churches were targeted.