|
Christians move to camps to avoid Hindu attacks
Nearly 700 Christians fearing attacks by Hindu hard-liners took shelter in government-run relief camps Saturday after sectarian violence in eastern India left at least four people dead last week. Authorities were providing food, medicine and security to Christians who moved into the four relief camps on Friday in the rural district of Kandhamal in eastern Orissa state, said Pradeep Kapoor, the inspector-general of police. Meanwhile, two police officers were suspended for failing to prevent violence on Christmas Eve, when long-standing tensions between the Hindu majority and the small Christian community erupted over conversions to Christianity, Kapoor told The Associated Press. Nearly 800 police and paramilitary forces were trying to restore calm, he said. No fresh incidents of violence were reported Saturday for a second day in Kandhamal, nearly 200 kilometers (125 miles) west of Bhubaneshwar, the capital of Orissa state, Kapoor said. The state government also transferred the top district administrator, Bhabagrahi Mohapatra, as punishment for failing to stop the fighting. Three people were killed Thursday when police opened fire on a group of hard-line Hindus who set fire to a police station in Kandhamal districts Brahmangaon village. They said police failed to protect them after a group of Christians burned down several Hindu homes in apparent retaliation for attacks on churches, officials said. Another person also died last week in communal fighting. About 19 churches have been ransacked and burned since Monday and several homes have been destroyed. At least 25 people have been arrested, Superintendent of Police Narsingh Bhol said. India is overwhelmingly Hindu but officially secular. Posted by: Fred 2007-12-30 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=216185 |