Date: Thursday 23 March 2006
Subj: Afghanistan: Kabul apostasy trial update
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------
AFHGANISTAN: KABUL APOSTASY TRIAL UPDATE
----------------------------------------
I am forwarding the following Compass Direct News Flash in full as it has fresh and more extensive details than my posting of last Monday, including the news that two more Afghan Christians have been charged, one other young believer has been beaten, and several other Christians have been harassed by the police.
Due to the international outcry, in particular from President Karzai's Western allies fighting to restore security in Afhganistan, President Karzai is looking for way out of this trial. It is quite possible they will pronounce Abdul Rahman mentally ill and pardon him on the grounds of insanity. This however, will not solve any religious liberty issues. If religious liberty is not promoted, protected and practised as a fundamental human right, then Afghanistan will simply return to enforcing sharia vigilante-style.
A significant issue in this case is the inherently contradictory nature of Afghanistan's Constitution. (Link 1) The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has written an open letter to U.S. President George W Bush calling on him to recognise that Afghanistan, like Iraq, presents "a special responsibility to US foreign policy because the United States has been directly involved in nation-building and political reconstruction. The arrest of Mr. Rahman indicates that religious extremists still have significant influence in Kabul, threatening not just the religious freedom of this one man, but the fundamental rights of each and every Afghan citizen." (Link 2)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Apostasy Case Reveals Constitutional Contradictions
http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2006/03/ad051c73-2777-4497-9f13-1293c2293380.html
2) USCIRF Letter to President Bush on Apostasy Trial
http://www.uscirf.gov/mediaroom/press/2006/march/03222006_AfghanHR.html
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FLASH NEWS from COMPASS DIRECT
Global News from the Frontlines
Summary:
ISTANBUL, March 22, 06 (Compass) – An avalanche of media coverage of an Afghan man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity has apparently sparked the arrest and deepening harassment of other Afghan Christians in the ultra-conservative Muslim country. Authorities arrested Abdul Rahman, 41, last month for the "crime" of leaving Islam for Christianity. Compass has confirmed the arrest of two other Afghan Christians. Another Afghan convert to Christianity was beaten severely outside his home by a group of six men, who finally knocked him unconscious with a hard blow to his temple. He woke up in the hospital two hours later. "Our brother remains steadfast, despite the ostracism and beatings," one of his friends said.
More Christians Arrested in Wake of Afghan 'Apostasy' Case
Two other converts from Islam in custody; another hospitalized after beating.
by Barbara G. Baker
ISTANBUL, March 22 (Compass) – An avalanche of media coverage of an Afghan man facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity has apparently sparked the arrest and deepening harassment of other Afghan Christians in the ultra-conservative Muslim country.
Authorities arrested Abdul Rahman, 41, last month for apostasy, a capital offense under strict Islamic laws still in place in Afghanistan , which four years ago was wrested from the Taliban regime’s hard-line Islamist control.
During the past few days, Compass has confirmed the arrest of two other Afghan Christians elsewhere in the country. Because of the sensitive situation, local sources requested that the location of the jailed converts be withheld.
This past weekend, one young Afghan convert to Christianity was beaten severely outside his home by a group of six men, who finally knocked him unconscious with a hard blow to his temple. He woke up in the hospital two hours later but was discharged before morning.
"Our brother remains steadfast, despite the ostracism and beatings," one of his friends said.
Several other Afghan Christians have been subjected to police raids on their homes and places of work in the past month, as well as to telephone threats.
First Known Apostasy Case
Rahman was put on trial in Kabul last week for the "crime" of converting from Islam to Christianity and faces the death penalty for refusing to return to the Muslim faith.
But news of his case did not break until March 16, when Ariana TV announced it. According to the TV newscaster, Rahman was asked in court, "Do you confess that you have apostacized from Islam?" The defendant answered, "No, I am not an apostate. I believe in God."
He was then questioned, "Do you believe in the Quran?" Rahman responded, "I believe in the New Testament, and I love Jesus Christ."
Although Islamist militants have captured and murdered at least five Afghan Christians in the past two years for abandoning Islam, Rahman's case is the local judiciary's first known prosecution case for apostasy in recent decades.
During Rahman's initial hearing before the head judge of Kabul's Primary Court, he testified that he had become a Christian 16 years ago, while working with a Christian relief organization in the Pakistani city of Peshawar, near the Afghan border.
But after his conversion, Rahman's wife divorced him, so their two infant daughters were taken back to Afghanistan, where they have been raised by their paternal grandparents.
Soon afterwards Rahman left Pakistan, and over the next few years he managed to enter several European countries. Although he attempted to apply for asylum, he was never able to obtain legal immigration status. After nine years, many of them in European detention centers because he had no valid papers, he was finally deported back to Afghanistan in 2002.
Back in Kabul, Rahman eventually contacted his family. In recent months, he tried repeatedly to regain custody of his daughters, now 13 and 14 years of age.
"The father finally went to the police in order to stop Abdul from contacting him, by telling them that Abdul converted to Christianity," a Kabul source said. He was promptly taken into custody, interrogated and sent to jail to await trial.
Although Rahman is allowed to have a defense lawyer, he has declined, insisting he can defend himself. But according to Christian sources in Kabul, the convert suffers from recurring mental instability, which could alter the Islamic court's handling of his case.
Rahman is reportedly incarcerated with 50 other prisoners in a cell designed for 15 in Kabul's Central Prison, where members of the press have been denied access to him. Since he is estranged from his family, and prisoners are traditionally dependent upon food rations supplied by their families, it is unclear whether he is being fed regularly.
Labeled a 'Cancer'
If Rahman is found guilty of apostasy and given the death penalty, as demanded by prosecutor Abdul Wasi, Afghan law permits him two final appeals – first to the provincial court, and then the Supreme Court.
Calling Rahman a "traitor to Islam," Wasi told the court he was "like a cancer inside Afghanistan."
Wasi told the Associated Press (AP) that when he offered to drop all the charges against Rahman if he returned to Islam, the defendant refused. "He said he was a Christian and would always remain one," Wasi said.
"We are Muslims, and becoming a Christian is against our laws," the prosecutor concluded. "He must get the death penalty."
Rahman is being tried by Judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada, who has said he would issue a verdict on the case within two months.
"We are not against any particular religion in the world," the judge told the AP on March 19. "But in Afghanistan , this sort of thing is against the law. It is an attack on Islam."
On March 20, however, Judge Mawlavizada told the British Broadcasting Corporation that Rahman’s mental state would be considered first, "before he was dealt with under sharia [Islamic] law."
President Hamid Karzai's office has said the president will not intervene in the case. But today a religious adviser to Karzai announced that Rahman would be given psychological tests.
"Doctors must examine him," Moayuddin Baluch told the AP. "If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped."
Although the Afghan government is clearly anxious to resolve Rahman's case in order to satisfy international criticisms, the state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has reportedly called for Rahman to be punished, insisting that he had "clearly violated Islamic law."
Rahman's plight dramatizes the judicial paradox within Afghanistan's new constitution, ratified in January 2004. Although it guarantees freedom of religion to non-Muslims, it also prohibits laws that are "contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."
At the same time, the constitution obliges the state to abide by the treaties and conventions it has signed, which include the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In outlining freedoms of thought, conscience and religion, Article 18 of this convention explicitly guarantees "freedom to change [one's] religion or belief."
Less than 1 percent of the Afghan population is non-Muslim, mostly Hindus and Sikhs. Among the millions of Afghans living abroad during recent decades of conflict in their homeland, some have openly declared themselves Christians. But no churches exist inside Afghanistan, and local converts to Christianity fear retribution if they declare their faith.
SIDEBAR
Arrest of Convert Christian Ignites International Outcry
Before he was dropped from the Afghan government's cabinet today, reporters grilled Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah yesterday (March 21) about his country’s controversial "apostasy" case during a Washington, D.C. press conference focusing on this week's U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership talks in Washington.
Acknowledging that the Afghan Embassy in Washington had received hundreds of messages since the trial of Afghan Christian Abdul Rahman was made public last week, Abdullah insisted that his government had nothing to do with the case.
Rahman, who is charged with abandoning Islam 16 years ago, is liable for execution under Afghanistan's Islamic law statutes.
"I know that it is a very sensitive issue and we know the concerns of the American people," Abdullah said. "But I hope that through our constitutional process, there will be a satisfactory result."
Speaking at Abdullah's side, Nicholas Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state of political affairs, sidestepped direct U.S. interference in Afghan sovereignty while admitting, "… from an American point of view, people should be free to choose their own religion."
Two days ago, the U.S. State Department had confirmed that the United States was "following closely" the trial proceedings, emphasizing that there were "differing interpretations" of the current Afghan constitution within the country. The Afghan authorities were being urged to "conduct this trial … in as transparent a manner as possible," the spokesman said.
Meanwhile, Western allies in the international coalition of troops deployed in Afghanistan have expressed outrage and point-blank condemnation of the trial over the past three days.
Lawmakers and leaders in Italy and Germany declared pointedly that it was "intolerable" that soldiers of all faiths should die to protect a country threatening to kill its own citizens for converting to Christianity. Canada confirmed that it was also "closely watching" the case, while the German Foreign Minister said he viewed it with "great concern."
"If Afghanistan does not quickly modernize its legal system," German opposition politician Rainer Bruderle told the daily Bild today, "Germany must rethink its help for Afghanistan ."
After the Italian government summoned the Afghan ambassador to Rome yesterday to discuss Rahman's case, a Foreign Ministry statement pledged that Italy would "move at the highest level … to prevent something which is incompatible with the defense of human rights and fundamental freedoms."
From the British Parliament, Nick Harvey of the Liberal Democrats remarked, "To prosecute or even kill someone for having a different faith is unacceptable." Labour Member of Parliament Alan Simpson agreed, declaring in a statement to The Times in London , "This absurdity must stop."
A strong protest was also lodged before the European Parliament by Dr. Charles Tannock, who questioned the European Union's generous funding of a country "which appears to ignore its international legal obligations, and apparently is still ruled by a fundamentalist version of Islamic sharia law." The parliamentarian called for a plea of clemency to be issued by the EU, requesting Afghanistan to exile Rahman to another country where his religious freedom would be guaranteed.
But one Afghan cabinet official has reacted sharply to the German government's blunt criticism of the trial, telling the Neue Osnabrueceker Zeitung newspaper that "the heated and emotional reaction of German politicians is exaggerated and has caused annoyance among Afghans."
Afghan Economy Minister Amin Farhang claimed that although "fanatics demand the death penalty in such cases," such a sentence was unlikely against Rahman.
END
**********
Copyright 2006 Compass Direct
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Thursday, March 23, 2006
Monday, March 20, 2006
Afghanistan: Kabul apostasy trial
Date: Monday 20 March 2006
Subj: Afghanistan: Kabul apostasy trial
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------
AFGHANISTAN: KABUL APOSTASY TRIAL
----------------------------------
On Monday 26 January 2004 Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai signed the new Afghanistan Constitution into law. While many rejoiced and hailed the document as a great leap forward, most religious liberty monitors and advocates despaired.
Article Two
Ch. 1, Art. 2
The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.
Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.
Article Three
Ch. 1, Art. 3
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."
(http://www.afghan-web.com/politics/current_constitution.html OR
http://www.af/constitution/ (English translations vary slightly.))
In effect, the requirement of Article Three abrogates any perceived suggestion of religious liberty in Article Two.
A groundbreaking case is about to test Afghanistan's Constitution and the constitution of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. An Afghan Christian is presently on trial in Kabul charged with rejecting Islam. He faces the death penalty if he refuses to renounce his Christian faith and return to Islam.
There have been vigilante executions of apostates in Afghanistan in recent years. Between June and September 2004 five Afghan believers, including martyr Mullah Assad Ullah, were stabbed or beaten to death in summary executions by Taliban adherents who accused them of abandoning Islam and then "spreading Christianity" in their communities (Compass Direct 10 Sept 2004). Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told newsgroup Reuters, "A group of Taliban dragged out Mullah Assad Ullah and slit his throat with a knife because he was propagating Christianity."
But the trial of Abdul Rahman is the first trial of its kind since the fall of the Taliban, and will be a test case for Afghanistan and for President Karzai. Fear and Islamic zeal are running high in Afghanistan in the wake of resurgent Taliban terror, the Guantanamo Bay Qur'an desecration controversy (or myth) of May 2005, and the recent Cartoon Intifada violence of February 2006. President Karzai will be under immense internal pressure to prove his Islamic credentials and uphold "the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam", while he should also be under immense external pressure from his donors and allies to defend Abdul Rahman's fundamental human right to religious freedom.
KABUL APOSTASY TRIAL
Daniel Cooney, writing for the Associated Press (AP), explains that the defendant, "41-year-old Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian". (Link 1)
The trigger for the case appears to be a custody dispute.
Judge Ansarullah Mawlavazada told AP that during a one-day hearing last Thursday 16 March, Abdul Rahman confessed to converting from Islam to Christianity some 16 years ago while he was working as a medical Aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Associated Press reports that after four years in Pakistan, Rahman moved to Germany, where he lived for nine years. Rahman's father told AP that Rahman returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and tried to gain custody of his two daughters, now aged 13 and 14, who had been living with their grandparents their whole lives. AP reports, "A custody battle ensued and the matter was taken to the police. During questioning, it emerged that Rahman was a Christian and was carrying a Bible. He was immediately arrested and charged."
Judge Mawlavazada says Abdul Rahman could face the death penalty if he refuses to revert to Islam as Sharia law proposes capital punishment for any Muslim who converts to another religion. As Afghanistan's constitution states: "No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam." (Link 2: this Middle East Times article contains a Reuters photograph of Judge Ansarullah Mawlavazada holding up Abdul Rahman's Bible as evidence.)
Daily Times of Pakistan reports (Monday 20 March), "Afghan police have detained a man for converting from Islam to Christianity, a judge said on Sunday, adding the man could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again.
"Islamic Sharia law proposes the death sentence for Muslims who abandon the religion. Afghanistan's new constitution says 'no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam'.
"Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said the suspect, Abdur Rahman, was arrested after members of his family informed police of his conversion.
"He would be charged in coming days with abandoning Islam, Mawlavizada said. 'The prosecutor says he should be executed on the basis of the constitution,' Mawlavizada said, who added that Rahman could come back to Islam. 'If he does not ... he will be punished,' he said." (Link 3)
Associated Press spoke to Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission who also notes that Afghanistan's constitution is based on Sharia law which is interpreted by many Muslims as mandating death for apostates. (Link 1)
Judge Mawlavizada told AP he would rule on the case within two months. AP reports that all attempts to interview Abdul Rahman in detention were barred.
AP reports, "The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman converted back to Islam, but he refused. 'He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one,' Wasi told AP. 'We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty.'" (Link 1)
KARZAI'S CHOICE
Benjamin Sand reports for Voice of America, "The court has ordered a delay in the proceedings to give Rahman time to hire an attorney. Under Afghan law, once a verdict is given, the case can be appealed twice to higher courts.
"This is the first case in which the defendant has admitted to converting and is refusing to back down, even while facing the death penalty.
"If convicted, the case could ultimately force President Hamid Karzai's direct intervention.
"The president would have to sign the papers authorizing Rahman's execution, a move that could jeopardize Mr. Karzai's standing with human rights groups and Western governments.
"So far, President Karzai has not commented on the case.
"But political analysts here in Kabul say he will be under significant pressure from the country's hard-line religious groups to make an example of Rahman." (Link 4)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Afghan Christian Could Get Death Sentence
Daniel Cooney. KABUL, Afghanistan, 19 March 2006 (AP)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5697060,00.html
2) Christian convert faces execution in Afghanistan
Reuters 19 March 2006
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060319-072838-8361r
3)Afghans detain man suspected of abandoning Islam.
Daily Times. 20 March 2006
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C20%5Cstory_20-3-2006_pg4_17
4) Afghan Man Faces Execution After Converting to Christianity
By Benjamin Sand. Kabul.18 March 2006
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-18-voa7.cfm
Subj: Afghanistan: Kabul apostasy trial
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------
AFGHANISTAN: KABUL APOSTASY TRIAL
----------------------------------
On Monday 26 January 2004 Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai signed the new Afghanistan Constitution into law. While many rejoiced and hailed the document as a great leap forward, most religious liberty monitors and advocates despaired.
Article Two
Ch. 1, Art. 2
The religion of the state of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam.
Followers of other religions are free to exercise their faith and perform their religious rites within the limits of the provisions of law.
Article Three
Ch. 1, Art. 3
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam."
(http://www.afghan-web.com/politics/current_constitution.html OR
http://www.af/constitution/ (English translations vary slightly.))
In effect, the requirement of Article Three abrogates any perceived suggestion of religious liberty in Article Two.
A groundbreaking case is about to test Afghanistan's Constitution and the constitution of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai. An Afghan Christian is presently on trial in Kabul charged with rejecting Islam. He faces the death penalty if he refuses to renounce his Christian faith and return to Islam.
There have been vigilante executions of apostates in Afghanistan in recent years. Between June and September 2004 five Afghan believers, including martyr Mullah Assad Ullah, were stabbed or beaten to death in summary executions by Taliban adherents who accused them of abandoning Islam and then "spreading Christianity" in their communities (Compass Direct 10 Sept 2004). Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi told newsgroup Reuters, "A group of Taliban dragged out Mullah Assad Ullah and slit his throat with a knife because he was propagating Christianity."
But the trial of Abdul Rahman is the first trial of its kind since the fall of the Taliban, and will be a test case for Afghanistan and for President Karzai. Fear and Islamic zeal are running high in Afghanistan in the wake of resurgent Taliban terror, the Guantanamo Bay Qur'an desecration controversy (or myth) of May 2005, and the recent Cartoon Intifada violence of February 2006. President Karzai will be under immense internal pressure to prove his Islamic credentials and uphold "the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam", while he should also be under immense external pressure from his donors and allies to defend Abdul Rahman's fundamental human right to religious freedom.
KABUL APOSTASY TRIAL
Daniel Cooney, writing for the Associated Press (AP), explains that the defendant, "41-year-old Abdul Rahman, was arrested last month after his family accused him of becoming a Christian". (Link 1)
The trigger for the case appears to be a custody dispute.
Judge Ansarullah Mawlavazada told AP that during a one-day hearing last Thursday 16 March, Abdul Rahman confessed to converting from Islam to Christianity some 16 years ago while he was working as a medical Aid worker for an international Christian group helping Afghan refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan.
Associated Press reports that after four years in Pakistan, Rahman moved to Germany, where he lived for nine years. Rahman's father told AP that Rahman returned to Afghanistan in 2002 and tried to gain custody of his two daughters, now aged 13 and 14, who had been living with their grandparents their whole lives. AP reports, "A custody battle ensued and the matter was taken to the police. During questioning, it emerged that Rahman was a Christian and was carrying a Bible. He was immediately arrested and charged."
Judge Mawlavazada says Abdul Rahman could face the death penalty if he refuses to revert to Islam as Sharia law proposes capital punishment for any Muslim who converts to another religion. As Afghanistan's constitution states: "No law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam." (Link 2: this Middle East Times article contains a Reuters photograph of Judge Ansarullah Mawlavazada holding up Abdul Rahman's Bible as evidence.)
Daily Times of Pakistan reports (Monday 20 March), "Afghan police have detained a man for converting from Islam to Christianity, a judge said on Sunday, adding the man could face the death penalty if he refused to become a Muslim again.
"Islamic Sharia law proposes the death sentence for Muslims who abandon the religion. Afghanistan's new constitution says 'no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam'.
"Supreme Court judge Ansarullah Mawlavizada said the suspect, Abdur Rahman, was arrested after members of his family informed police of his conversion.
"He would be charged in coming days with abandoning Islam, Mawlavizada said. 'The prosecutor says he should be executed on the basis of the constitution,' Mawlavizada said, who added that Rahman could come back to Islam. 'If he does not ... he will be punished,' he said." (Link 3)
Associated Press spoke to Ahmad Fahim Hakim, deputy chairman of the state-sponsored Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission who also notes that Afghanistan's constitution is based on Sharia law which is interpreted by many Muslims as mandating death for apostates. (Link 1)
Judge Mawlavizada told AP he would rule on the case within two months. AP reports that all attempts to interview Abdul Rahman in detention were barred.
AP reports, "The prosecutor, Abdul Wasi, said he had offered to drop the charges if Rahman converted back to Islam, but he refused. 'He would have been forgiven if he changed back. But he said he was a Christian and would always remain one,' Wasi told AP. 'We are Muslims and becoming a Christian is against our laws. He must get the death penalty.'" (Link 1)
KARZAI'S CHOICE
Benjamin Sand reports for Voice of America, "The court has ordered a delay in the proceedings to give Rahman time to hire an attorney. Under Afghan law, once a verdict is given, the case can be appealed twice to higher courts.
"This is the first case in which the defendant has admitted to converting and is refusing to back down, even while facing the death penalty.
"If convicted, the case could ultimately force President Hamid Karzai's direct intervention.
"The president would have to sign the papers authorizing Rahman's execution, a move that could jeopardize Mr. Karzai's standing with human rights groups and Western governments.
"So far, President Karzai has not commented on the case.
"But political analysts here in Kabul say he will be under significant pressure from the country's hard-line religious groups to make an example of Rahman." (Link 4)
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Afghan Christian Could Get Death Sentence
Daniel Cooney. KABUL, Afghanistan, 19 March 2006 (AP)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-5697060,00.html
2) Christian convert faces execution in Afghanistan
Reuters 19 March 2006
http://www.metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060319-072838-8361r
3)Afghans detain man suspected of abandoning Islam.
Daily Times. 20 March 2006
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006%5C03%5C20%5Cstory_20-3-2006_pg4_17
4) Afghan Man Faces Execution After Converting to Christianity
By Benjamin Sand. Kabul.18 March 2006
http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-03-18-voa7.cfm
Friday, March 3, 2006
India:Hindutva advances while Communal Violence Bill flounders
Date: Friday 3 March 2006
Subj: India:Hindutva advances while Communal Violence Bill flounders
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
The Shabri Kumbh Mela, held 11-13 February in Dangs, Gujarat, was established specifically to "consolidate Hindus", usher tribals into the "Hindu mainstream", and deal a "death blow" to Christian missions in Dangs. The Kumbh was the climax of a massive Hinduisation campaign that combined the Hinduisation of animism, the Hinduisation of tribal culture, with an intense anti-Christian propaganda campaign that included incitement to kill Christians. (see previous WEA RLC India posting and prayer bulletin, plus article: link 1)
That the Kumbh ended peacefully, without any bloodshed, is a testament to the power and mercy of God who intervened for his people in answer to the prayers of many.
Shabri Kumbh Mela 2006 may be over, but the Sangh Parivar's (body of Hindu nationalist organisations) re-energised Hindutva campaign is only beginning. While protesting the negative press which forced Gujarat's State government to provide armed police protection to Dangi Christians, the Sangh is boasting "great gains" in Dangs. And the "success" of the Dangs experiment is motivating the Sangh to replay this strategy in other tribal dominated districts across the nation.
One Hindutva mouthpiece, Organiser, boasts: "Let all the secular Taliban and left creepers wail and beat their chests but the ongoing march of the Vanvasi rights and assertion of their cultural identity shall not be stopped." (Link 2) A translation of the double-speak in this sentence could read like this: All those who support secular politics, real religious liberty, environmentalism, and the rights of India's indigenous peoples can complain and protest all they like, but the Sangh Parivar's Hindutva campaign to convince the Adivasis that they are Vanvasi Hindus whose security and identity is threatened only by Christians shall not be stopped.
As the Sangh's Hindutva forces advance through the tribal districts persecution of Christians is increasing in both frequency and intensity. According to the Sangh, hundreds of tribal Christians are (with the help of RSS paramilitary forces) seeing the error of their ways, realising they have been deceived and exploited by the Christians, and are now "returning home" to Hinduism. Violence against individual believers, pastors and evangelists, whole churches, and church and mission property is being reported constantly, especially in tribal dominated districts and especially in BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisigarh and Jharkhand.
The central government is working to address the issue of communal conflict. However, the draft Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, is terribly, dangerously flawed. The Bill increases the power of state governments, but a Bill that increases the power of governments cannot protect minorities from government-sponsored terrorism.
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SHABRI KUMBH ONLY THE BEGINING
The Sangh Parivar is not out to save souls. Its goals are purely political, rooted in power lust. The primary goal of the Sangh Parivar is simply to consolidate the Adivasis (indigenous peoples, called Vanvasi, forest peoples, by the Sangh) as part of the Hindutva fold before the 2009 federal elections. Religion is simply a tool with which to achieve social engineering for political gain.
The Sangh wants the BJP returned to power in the centre in 2009, with a majority so that it can rule outright, without being compromised by coalition partners. Even if Christians pray for God to protect every Christian in India from Hindutva violence, the Sangh can still achieve its political goal if it converts enough tribals to Hinduism to ensure BJP majority rule from 2009. If that happens, it could safely be predicted that India's secular constitution will be changed, national anti-conversion laws enacted, and a Hindutva dictatorship established.
SEEKING FOUR MORE "SOCIAL" KUMBHS
Abhishek Kapoor reports for Ahmedabad Newsline: "End of the three-day Shabari Kumbh here marked the beginning of a new experiment on mobilising Hindu forces. Led by the RSS, organisations have planned to use this new tool — more such kumbhs across the country in a semi-religious setting — to gather Hindus to counter Christian missionaries and conversions.
"According to plans, these congregations would be different from the regular Kumbh Melas held at Prayag, Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik and focus on reform and social engineering within Hinduism to consolidate its followers as a single block. The concluding public meeting, led by Shankaracharya Saraswati of Joshimath, announced that all tribals including Nagas, Mizos, Santhals, Orans, Bodos, Mundas and Gonds, belong to Hindu fold.
"The Shankaracharya mooted the idea of more social kumbhs that would bring Hindus together on one platform. He suggested four new kumbhs sites in tribal dominated states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and the North-East." (Link 3)
Abhishek Kapoor notes that the aims of the Shabri Kumbh are first and foremost political: "The religious significance of kumbh could be termed low as many of the visitors were cadres mobilised by saffron organisations during the past three months.
"Interestingly, Dangs, like all tribal areas in the State, has been a traditional Congress bastion with a difference that it stayed with the party even after the 2002 violence handed all assembly seats to the BJP.
"However, the BJP remains optimistic about the kumbh's returns. Talking to Newsline, a minister in the Modi government said the party would reap dividends out of the kumbh for next 10 years without much hard work. 'Our margins in the Assembly seats of Ahwa Dangs were as low as 50 and seven votes. With the kind of mobilisation that has taken place, we do not see much difficulty. If the kumbh gets institutionalised, it would be an added advantage,' he said." (Link 3)
GOING HOME
According to the most recent edition of the Organiser, Christians are "returning" to Hinduism by the hundreds. This is of course, pure propaganda, presenting the "homecoming" as an act of awakening when in reality it is a forced conversion made under duress. One cannot underestimate the confusion, fear and intimidation felt by tribal Christians when pressured by Hindutva forces to convert or suffer. The fact is, these believers suffer no matter what they do. If they are born again believers, their fearful acquiescence will break their hearts (as Peter's did: Luke 22:62) and they will need to rediscover their Lord's merciful forgiveness and loving acceptance. If they stand firm, they will be persecuted and their loved ones and children will suffer with them.
The Organiser reports, "About 335 Christians belonging to 55 families returned to their original roots at a function held at Soharpat village of Gumla district in Bihar." The speaker at the conversion ceremony, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat demanded (ironically) that the state government put a complete ban on conversion. According to the Organiser: "He said the Christian missionaries had been trapping local gullible Vanvasis and converting them to Christianity... He appealed to all people of the community who have somehow adopted Christianity to come back to their original roots, [that is, not animism, but Hinduism]."
The Organiser also reports, "In another function held at Bhojpur village of Etah district in Uttar Pradesh, over 300 Christians returned to Hindu fold. They also converted the local church into a temple. The father of the church himself installed the pictures of goddess Durga, Vaishno Devi and Hanuman in the new temple. After returning to Hindu fold, he also said the missionaries took unfair advantage of his poverty and used him for conversion in the area." (Link 4)
Speaking at the Shabri Kumbh Mela on 11 February, Hindu teacher Morari Bapu railed against conversions (to Christianity), and made a special public appeal to Christian missionaries to follow Christ and obey the Bible by not converting people to Christianity!
Ahmedabad Newsline reports: "Quoting from a chapter on Luke in the Bible, Bapu said even Christ's word forbade conversions... 'When the Bible says do not convert, please don't. It is great that you are good medicos, and have the money to help poor and ailing. But once they have been healed, let them go back home (their parent religion) as good doctors do. Ghar jana koi gunah nahin hai,' he said, quoting from a Gujarat Sahitya Prakashan translation of the book." (Link 5)
Morari Bapu also invited Dangi Christians to convert, or "return" to Hinduism, saying, "Anybody can make a comeback to his home. Just have a dip in the holy Pampa Sarovar and worship Shabari Mata, you will be back home." (Link 6)
Bapu deliberately manipulates the term "home", deceitfully interpreting it as "former religion" rather than home where you live. According to Bapu's interpretation, when Jesus healed the paralysed man and then said, "...take your mat and go home" (Luke 5:24); or when Jesus told the healed demoniac to "Return home..." (Luke 8:39); he was really telling them to return to their former religion. Bapu did not address all the other healings where people were not exhorted to "return home"; he did not address "follow me". What he did do though, was sow seeds of doubt, confusion and anger in the hearts and minds of many down-trodden, illiterate tribals (including Christians), who may now be tempted to see Christians as essentially hypocritical and unfaithful to their own religion.
------------------------------------------------------------------
DRAFT COMMUNAL VIOLENCE BILL FLAWED
------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to the Sangh's mobilisation of Hindutva forces and programs, violence against Christians, particularly in tribal dominated areas, is escalating in both frequency and intensity. While the Indian government is making an effort to address this issue, the draft Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, is terribly flawed. The Bill is presently making its way through public discussion and parliamentary debate.
The fundamental flaw in the bill is that it actually increases the powers of state governments. Clearly this is totally useless when sectarian state governments are in collusion with sectarian, communal organistations. In Gujarat, both the massacre of Muslims in 2002, and the Shabri Kumbh Mela of February 2006, were actively supported by Gujarat's BJP state government.
Two critiques of this Bill can be found at Link 7.
They include "A People's Critique" of the Bill, by ANHAD (Act Now For Harmony and Democracy), HRLN (Human Rights Law Network) and Jan Vikas, and published in the Milli Gazette; as well as a report written by the Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Network and published in Tehelka.
According to these critiques the core sections of the Bill from Chapter II to Chapter VI, relating to the prevention of communal violence, the investigation of communal crimes and the establishment of special courts will only come into effect if the state government issues a notification. What's more, it is not mandatory that the state government act at all, even if notified by the central government. Meanwhile, civil society remains powerless to initiate or control prosecutions when communal crimes occur.
The Bill contains a clause for punishment of public officials who fail to perform their duties. Yet even here there is both a failing and a loophole. The Bill fails to hold accountable those in positions of command and authority such as the Chief Minister. What's worse, police who fail to perform their duties, being either passive or partisan in the face of communal violence, cannot be charged with an offence unless the state government sanctions the proceedings. As "A People's Critique" notes, "In the context of state governments with communally driven malafide intent, the chances of even police officials being punished under this clause are very remote."
Another flaw in the Bill is the definition of "communal violence", which is limited to a list of already criminalised offences, and does not cover many communal crimes such as mobilisation with incitement through hate speech, literature, media and teaching. The Bill also has a very narrow definition of sexual violence which fails to address issues beyond rape, such as stripping, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence.
As the critics of the Bill note, what is needed is a law which makes it mandatory for the government to act in clearly codified ways before, during and after communal violence. And the law needs also to remove impunity, so that state governments, authority figures, and police that fail to act to prevent violence may be charged, tried and punished.
Regarding the power of the central government to intervene (which obviously is only beneficial if the central government is non-sectarian), "A People's Critique" comments: "Section 55 requires the Central Government, in cases where it is of the opinion that 'there is an imminent threat to the secular fabric, unity, integrity or internal security of India which requires that immediate steps' to 'draw the attention of the State Government to the prevailing situation'; and to direct it 'to take all immediate measures to suppress' the violence. If the state government fails to act, the Bill provides first for the central government to declare any area within a State as 'communally disturbed area' under this Bill; but this is not significant because, as we observed, such declaration does not require mandatory actions by the state government to control the violence. The Bill also provides for central 'deployment of armed forces, to prevent and control communal violence', which would have been very significant, but the provision is neutralised by the requirement that this central deployment is legally permissible only in the event of 'a request having been received from the State Government to do so'. In other words, only the state government still retains the power to decide about the deployment of armed forces to control communal violence."
As noted in the report in Tehelka, this proviso, that the central government must wait for a request from the state government before it can intervene is "a ridiculously retrogressive provision given the fact that even today the Centre is under no obligation to wait for consent when the situation goes out of control".
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
WEA RLC News & Analysis. by Elizabeth Kendal, 26 Jan 2006
India: Shabri Kumbh Mela Threatens 8000 Christians in Dangs
WEA Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin - No. 364 - Wed 08 Feb 2006
Eliazabeth Kendal
Apex court acts on anti-Christian video
3 February 2006
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=1835
2) The grand mingling in the Shabri Kumbh
By Tarun Vijay 26 February 2006
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=119&page=14
3) RSS wants more such kumbhs
Abhishek Kapoor. 13 February 2006
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=169683
4) 600 Christians return to Hindu fold
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=120&page=30#2
5) From kumbh, Modi sends out a warning to missionaries
Abhishek Kapoor, Sunday , February 12, 2006
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=169474
6) At RSS meet, Modi, saints oppose Christian missionaries
Ahwa (Gujarat) | February 12, 2006
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=247133&cat=India
7) Betrayals and Missed Opportunities: The Communal Violence Bill, 2005. A People's Critique of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005. By ANHAD, HRLN & Jan Vikas The Milli Gazette Online. 8 February 2006
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060208-communal-bill.htm
All that hot air
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main16.asp?filename=Cr021806all_that.asp
Subj: India:Hindutva advances while Communal Violence Bill flounders
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
The Shabri Kumbh Mela, held 11-13 February in Dangs, Gujarat, was established specifically to "consolidate Hindus", usher tribals into the "Hindu mainstream", and deal a "death blow" to Christian missions in Dangs. The Kumbh was the climax of a massive Hinduisation campaign that combined the Hinduisation of animism, the Hinduisation of tribal culture, with an intense anti-Christian propaganda campaign that included incitement to kill Christians. (see previous WEA RLC India posting and prayer bulletin, plus article: link 1)
That the Kumbh ended peacefully, without any bloodshed, is a testament to the power and mercy of God who intervened for his people in answer to the prayers of many.
Shabri Kumbh Mela 2006 may be over, but the Sangh Parivar's (body of Hindu nationalist organisations) re-energised Hindutva campaign is only beginning. While protesting the negative press which forced Gujarat's State government to provide armed police protection to Dangi Christians, the Sangh is boasting "great gains" in Dangs. And the "success" of the Dangs experiment is motivating the Sangh to replay this strategy in other tribal dominated districts across the nation.
One Hindutva mouthpiece, Organiser, boasts: "Let all the secular Taliban and left creepers wail and beat their chests but the ongoing march of the Vanvasi rights and assertion of their cultural identity shall not be stopped." (Link 2) A translation of the double-speak in this sentence could read like this: All those who support secular politics, real religious liberty, environmentalism, and the rights of India's indigenous peoples can complain and protest all they like, but the Sangh Parivar's Hindutva campaign to convince the Adivasis that they are Vanvasi Hindus whose security and identity is threatened only by Christians shall not be stopped.
As the Sangh's Hindutva forces advance through the tribal districts persecution of Christians is increasing in both frequency and intensity. According to the Sangh, hundreds of tribal Christians are (with the help of RSS paramilitary forces) seeing the error of their ways, realising they have been deceived and exploited by the Christians, and are now "returning home" to Hinduism. Violence against individual believers, pastors and evangelists, whole churches, and church and mission property is being reported constantly, especially in tribal dominated districts and especially in BJP-ruled states such as Gujarat, Rajasthan, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhatisigarh and Jharkhand.
The central government is working to address the issue of communal conflict. However, the draft Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, is terribly, dangerously flawed. The Bill increases the power of state governments, but a Bill that increases the power of governments cannot protect minorities from government-sponsored terrorism.
----------------------------------------------------------
SHABRI KUMBH ONLY THE BEGINING
The Sangh Parivar is not out to save souls. Its goals are purely political, rooted in power lust. The primary goal of the Sangh Parivar is simply to consolidate the Adivasis (indigenous peoples, called Vanvasi, forest peoples, by the Sangh) as part of the Hindutva fold before the 2009 federal elections. Religion is simply a tool with which to achieve social engineering for political gain.
The Sangh wants the BJP returned to power in the centre in 2009, with a majority so that it can rule outright, without being compromised by coalition partners. Even if Christians pray for God to protect every Christian in India from Hindutva violence, the Sangh can still achieve its political goal if it converts enough tribals to Hinduism to ensure BJP majority rule from 2009. If that happens, it could safely be predicted that India's secular constitution will be changed, national anti-conversion laws enacted, and a Hindutva dictatorship established.
SEEKING FOUR MORE "SOCIAL" KUMBHS
Abhishek Kapoor reports for Ahmedabad Newsline: "End of the three-day Shabari Kumbh here marked the beginning of a new experiment on mobilising Hindu forces. Led by the RSS, organisations have planned to use this new tool — more such kumbhs across the country in a semi-religious setting — to gather Hindus to counter Christian missionaries and conversions.
"According to plans, these congregations would be different from the regular Kumbh Melas held at Prayag, Hardwar, Ujjain and Nashik and focus on reform and social engineering within Hinduism to consolidate its followers as a single block. The concluding public meeting, led by Shankaracharya Saraswati of Joshimath, announced that all tribals including Nagas, Mizos, Santhals, Orans, Bodos, Mundas and Gonds, belong to Hindu fold.
"The Shankaracharya mooted the idea of more social kumbhs that would bring Hindus together on one platform. He suggested four new kumbhs sites in tribal dominated states of Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Uttaranchal and the North-East." (Link 3)
Abhishek Kapoor notes that the aims of the Shabri Kumbh are first and foremost political: "The religious significance of kumbh could be termed low as many of the visitors were cadres mobilised by saffron organisations during the past three months.
"Interestingly, Dangs, like all tribal areas in the State, has been a traditional Congress bastion with a difference that it stayed with the party even after the 2002 violence handed all assembly seats to the BJP.
"However, the BJP remains optimistic about the kumbh's returns. Talking to Newsline, a minister in the Modi government said the party would reap dividends out of the kumbh for next 10 years without much hard work. 'Our margins in the Assembly seats of Ahwa Dangs were as low as 50 and seven votes. With the kind of mobilisation that has taken place, we do not see much difficulty. If the kumbh gets institutionalised, it would be an added advantage,' he said." (Link 3)
GOING HOME
According to the most recent edition of the Organiser, Christians are "returning" to Hinduism by the hundreds. This is of course, pure propaganda, presenting the "homecoming" as an act of awakening when in reality it is a forced conversion made under duress. One cannot underestimate the confusion, fear and intimidation felt by tribal Christians when pressured by Hindutva forces to convert or suffer. The fact is, these believers suffer no matter what they do. If they are born again believers, their fearful acquiescence will break their hearts (as Peter's did: Luke 22:62) and they will need to rediscover their Lord's merciful forgiveness and loving acceptance. If they stand firm, they will be persecuted and their loved ones and children will suffer with them.
The Organiser reports, "About 335 Christians belonging to 55 families returned to their original roots at a function held at Soharpat village of Gumla district in Bihar." The speaker at the conversion ceremony, Shri Sudarshan Bhagat demanded (ironically) that the state government put a complete ban on conversion. According to the Organiser: "He said the Christian missionaries had been trapping local gullible Vanvasis and converting them to Christianity... He appealed to all people of the community who have somehow adopted Christianity to come back to their original roots, [that is, not animism, but Hinduism]."
The Organiser also reports, "In another function held at Bhojpur village of Etah district in Uttar Pradesh, over 300 Christians returned to Hindu fold. They also converted the local church into a temple. The father of the church himself installed the pictures of goddess Durga, Vaishno Devi and Hanuman in the new temple. After returning to Hindu fold, he also said the missionaries took unfair advantage of his poverty and used him for conversion in the area." (Link 4)
Speaking at the Shabri Kumbh Mela on 11 February, Hindu teacher Morari Bapu railed against conversions (to Christianity), and made a special public appeal to Christian missionaries to follow Christ and obey the Bible by not converting people to Christianity!
Ahmedabad Newsline reports: "Quoting from a chapter on Luke in the Bible, Bapu said even Christ's word forbade conversions... 'When the Bible says do not convert, please don't. It is great that you are good medicos, and have the money to help poor and ailing. But once they have been healed, let them go back home (their parent religion) as good doctors do. Ghar jana koi gunah nahin hai,' he said, quoting from a Gujarat Sahitya Prakashan translation of the book." (Link 5)
Morari Bapu also invited Dangi Christians to convert, or "return" to Hinduism, saying, "Anybody can make a comeback to his home. Just have a dip in the holy Pampa Sarovar and worship Shabari Mata, you will be back home." (Link 6)
Bapu deliberately manipulates the term "home", deceitfully interpreting it as "former religion" rather than home where you live. According to Bapu's interpretation, when Jesus healed the paralysed man and then said, "...take your mat and go home" (Luke 5:24); or when Jesus told the healed demoniac to "Return home..." (Luke 8:39); he was really telling them to return to their former religion. Bapu did not address all the other healings where people were not exhorted to "return home"; he did not address "follow me". What he did do though, was sow seeds of doubt, confusion and anger in the hearts and minds of many down-trodden, illiterate tribals (including Christians), who may now be tempted to see Christians as essentially hypocritical and unfaithful to their own religion.
------------------------------------------------------------------
DRAFT COMMUNAL VIOLENCE BILL FLAWED
------------------------------------------------------------------
Due to the Sangh's mobilisation of Hindutva forces and programs, violence against Christians, particularly in tribal dominated areas, is escalating in both frequency and intensity. While the Indian government is making an effort to address this issue, the draft Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005, is terribly flawed. The Bill is presently making its way through public discussion and parliamentary debate.
The fundamental flaw in the bill is that it actually increases the powers of state governments. Clearly this is totally useless when sectarian state governments are in collusion with sectarian, communal organistations. In Gujarat, both the massacre of Muslims in 2002, and the Shabri Kumbh Mela of February 2006, were actively supported by Gujarat's BJP state government.
Two critiques of this Bill can be found at Link 7.
They include "A People's Critique" of the Bill, by ANHAD (Act Now For Harmony and Democracy), HRLN (Human Rights Law Network) and Jan Vikas, and published in the Milli Gazette; as well as a report written by the Executive Director of the Human Rights Law Network and published in Tehelka.
According to these critiques the core sections of the Bill from Chapter II to Chapter VI, relating to the prevention of communal violence, the investigation of communal crimes and the establishment of special courts will only come into effect if the state government issues a notification. What's more, it is not mandatory that the state government act at all, even if notified by the central government. Meanwhile, civil society remains powerless to initiate or control prosecutions when communal crimes occur.
The Bill contains a clause for punishment of public officials who fail to perform their duties. Yet even here there is both a failing and a loophole. The Bill fails to hold accountable those in positions of command and authority such as the Chief Minister. What's worse, police who fail to perform their duties, being either passive or partisan in the face of communal violence, cannot be charged with an offence unless the state government sanctions the proceedings. As "A People's Critique" notes, "In the context of state governments with communally driven malafide intent, the chances of even police officials being punished under this clause are very remote."
Another flaw in the Bill is the definition of "communal violence", which is limited to a list of already criminalised offences, and does not cover many communal crimes such as mobilisation with incitement through hate speech, literature, media and teaching. The Bill also has a very narrow definition of sexual violence which fails to address issues beyond rape, such as stripping, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual violence.
As the critics of the Bill note, what is needed is a law which makes it mandatory for the government to act in clearly codified ways before, during and after communal violence. And the law needs also to remove impunity, so that state governments, authority figures, and police that fail to act to prevent violence may be charged, tried and punished.
Regarding the power of the central government to intervene (which obviously is only beneficial if the central government is non-sectarian), "A People's Critique" comments: "Section 55 requires the Central Government, in cases where it is of the opinion that 'there is an imminent threat to the secular fabric, unity, integrity or internal security of India which requires that immediate steps' to 'draw the attention of the State Government to the prevailing situation'; and to direct it 'to take all immediate measures to suppress' the violence. If the state government fails to act, the Bill provides first for the central government to declare any area within a State as 'communally disturbed area' under this Bill; but this is not significant because, as we observed, such declaration does not require mandatory actions by the state government to control the violence. The Bill also provides for central 'deployment of armed forces, to prevent and control communal violence', which would have been very significant, but the provision is neutralised by the requirement that this central deployment is legally permissible only in the event of 'a request having been received from the State Government to do so'. In other words, only the state government still retains the power to decide about the deployment of armed forces to control communal violence."
As noted in the report in Tehelka, this proviso, that the central government must wait for a request from the state government before it can intervene is "a ridiculously retrogressive provision given the fact that even today the Centre is under no obligation to wait for consent when the situation goes out of control".
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) India: The dictators of Hindutva aim for 'death blow' in Dangs
WEA RLC News & Analysis. by Elizabeth Kendal, 26 Jan 2006
India: Shabri Kumbh Mela Threatens 8000 Christians in Dangs
WEA Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin - No. 364 - Wed 08 Feb 2006
Eliazabeth Kendal
Apex court acts on anti-Christian video
3 February 2006
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=1835
2) The grand mingling in the Shabri Kumbh
By Tarun Vijay 26 February 2006
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=119&page=14
3) RSS wants more such kumbhs
Abhishek Kapoor. 13 February 2006
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=169683
4) 600 Christians return to Hindu fold
http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=120&page=30#2
5) From kumbh, Modi sends out a warning to missionaries
Abhishek Kapoor, Sunday , February 12, 2006
http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=169474
6) At RSS meet, Modi, saints oppose Christian missionaries
Ahwa (Gujarat) | February 12, 2006
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=247133&cat=India
7) Betrayals and Missed Opportunities: The Communal Violence Bill, 2005. A People's Critique of the Communal Violence (Prevention, Control and Rehabilitation of Victims) Bill, 2005. By ANHAD, HRLN & Jan Vikas The Milli Gazette Online. 8 February 2006
http://www.milligazette.com/dailyupdate/2006/20060208-communal-bill.htm
All that hot air
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main16.asp?filename=Cr021806all_that.asp