September 21, 2007

State Department lauds federal government but notes criticisms of officials at all levels.

NEW DELHI – The U.S. Department of State’s 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom gives India’s federal government high marks for respecting religious freedom, but Christian leaders said this does not mean that persecution in the country is less than alarming.

The incidence of anti-Christian violence is much higher than available statistics indicate, the leaders said, as most cases are not reported to the police and are ignored by the media.

“I record and prove between 200 and 400 cases of anti-Christian violence a year in my unofficial white paper released annually since 1997 – but the actual figure may be from 1,000 to 2,000 such cases a year, perhaps even more,” said Dr. John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC).

Released last Friday (September 14), the report covering the period from July 1, 2006, to June 30 says the government of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), led by the Indian National Congress or Congress Party, “generally respected” religious freedom in practice.

“Generally respected” is the highest level for religious freedom assigned by the report, according to the preface.

It asserts, however, that there were “organized societal attacks against minority religious groups, particularly in states ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party” or BJP, India’s most influential Hindu nationalistic party. The report also notes that human rights activists criticized the UPA for alleged “indifference and inaction” in the face of persecution by state and local officials and private citizens.

Quoting faith-based groups in India, including the AICC and the Christian Legal Association (CLA), the report says there were at least 128 attacks against Christians in all of 2006. From July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007, the AICC reported more than 150 incidents of anti-Christian attacks.

Targeted Community

From 130 to 150 attacks in a country of 1 billion may not sound like much, but Christian leaders said that not only are attacks under-reported but that targeting of a minority community is alarming. Moreover, the attacks are concentrated in geographic pockets.

The state department’s report on India states that, according to the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Madhya Pradesh, more than 55 attacks on Christians by various Hindu extremist groups were reported in the state between July 2006 and April 2007. Of these, 34 were in the city of Jabalpur alone.

“It is the targeting of this minority population that becomes a cause for concern,” said CLA General Secretary Tehmina Arora, pointing out that Christians make up only 2.3 percent, or 24 million, of India’s population.