More than 150 attacks on Christians in India last year

The Evangelical Fellowship of India recorded 152 incidents of anti-Christian violence during 2009.

Most of the attacks happened in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh.

The Global Council of Indian Christians issued a similar report charting violence hotspots across India.

According to the Bangalore-based group, there were a total of 177 attacks against Christians in India in 2009. Karnataka topped all other states with 72 incidents of violence.

The Christian community has been the target of attacks in Karnataka since the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party installed its first government in 1998, said the Rev Dr Richard Howell, general secretary of the EFI.

The most horrific attack against Christians in the history of the church in India occurred in the wake of radical Hindu leader Laxmananda Saraswati’s death in Kandhamal, Orissa, in 2008.

Though Maoists claimed responsibility for the murder, the VHP blamed local Christians and took revenge for the death with large-scale violence that lasted over two months.

Howell said: "Persecution of Christians in India is as old as Christianity itself. St Thomas, a disciple of Christ, who came to India, was martyred in about AD 52 in south India."

Howell said the response of Christians to these atrocities had been one of forgiveness and an appeal to the government to protect the life and property of its citizens.

A report released on December 2009 by the US-based Pew Research Centre placed India second only to Iraq in social hostility and religious discrimination.