No sign of India violence subsiding, says ministry

|PIC1|More than a week after the outbreak of violence in Orissa, the situation is getting worse with no sign of subsiding, reported a Christian ministry working in India.

Religious violence between Hindus and Christians in the north-eastern state has killed at least 16 people, mainly Christians.

Thousands of Christians have been forced to take refuge in government buildings, makeshift camps, and forests in Orissa state after Hindu mobs torched churches, Christian-owned homes and businesses, as well as an orphanage following the murder of a Hindu leader.

Christians have denied involvement in the death of the radical leader, who was running a campaign against Christian conversion at the time, but Hindus in the region insist that "Christian militants" were behind the death.

Police have blamed Maoist rebels for the murder, whilst the rebels have also claimed responsibility for the death. Yet Hindu mobs maintain that Christians are to blame for the incident.

Indian Christian leaders believe the Hindus are just using the death as an excuse to attack Christians in the state long tarnished by sectarian violence.

Hundreds of homes have been burned and looted, whilst the government has been slow to respond to the Hindu mobs.

"I thought that this was going to subside," said JP SunderRajan of Audio Scripture Ministries, according to Mission Network News, "but it has shown no signs of subsiding, and in fact, has gotten worse and worse."

The ministry currently has a team working in India.

India's Supreme Court ordered Wednesday that the Orissa state government report what it has done to stop the anti-Christian attacks.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered four more police battalions to be deployed to protect Christians in the state, according to Reuters.

A mob of some 1,000 Hindu men and women had attacked a Christian relief camp on Thursday, injuring nearly 40 people, according to local media reports.

The Orissa state violence has drawn international condemnation, including that of Pope Benedict and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams.

In a joint letter Thursday, the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation called on India's prime minister to intervene and stop the violence in Orissa.

The letter called on member churches to hold a Day of Prayer and Fasting for peace and goodwill on Sunday for the Christians in India.

"Religious fanaticism has once again broken the lives of the poor, who are largely Dalits and Adivasis," wrote WCC general secretary, the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia. "Let us pray for harmony among religious communities and let us work together to build trust and mutual respect."