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Iran? Lybia? Iraq? Perhaps Pakistan or Afghanistan. Nope, our friend and ally India …
CALCUTTA NEWS Oct. 1, 2008 – Day and night curfew was re-imposed in nine towns of Orissa’s Kandhamal district following the burning of several houses and the death of a woman in clashes between Christians and Hindus, police said.
‘We have re-imposed a day and night curfew in nine towns,’ Kandhamal Superintendent of Police S. Praveen Kumar told IANS.
A mob set fire to several houses in Behera Gaon village in the district Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, a mob set fire to Christian homes and a church in Rudangia village under Udayagiri police station Tuesday morning. The two sides then clashed using country made guns and other weapons. Police were forced to open fire to disperse the mob. Forty-year-old Rukmini Nayak was killed in the violence and over a dozen people were injured.
About 10 people were arrested by police for their involvement in the violence.
The region has been witnessing communal violence since Aug 23, when Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati and four of his aides were shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his Jalespata Ashram. The VHP accused Christians of the murders, a charge strongly denied by Christian organisations.
Since then, thousands of people have been rendered homeless, many churches attacked and at least 33 people killed in the state. Prohibitory orders are still in force in the district and night curfew was earlier imposed in most towns.
Orissa is not new to communal violence between Hindus and Christians. On Jan 22, 1999, Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons, 10-year-old Philip and six-year-old Timothy, were burnt alive by a Hindu mob in their vehicle in Keonjhar district.
India’s vengeful Christians turn to murder as Hindus step up their killing campaign
Washington, Sept. 26 : About 100 people, holding placards staged a protest in front of the White House on Thursday to get the attention of visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue of attacks on Christians in India.
At least 26 people have died and 3,000 Christian homes have been destroyed along with 134 houses of worship, according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which asked President Bush to press Dr. Singh to stop the month-long killing spree.
NEW DELHI, August 19 (Compass Direct News) – Christian leaders in Andhra Pradesh suspect the grisly murder of a Catholic priest was the work of Hindu extremists and that police have prematurely ruled out that possibility.
The battered body of Father Thomas Pandipally was found lying on a roadside in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh early on Sunday (August 17). The 38-year-old priest from the Carmelite of Mary Immaculate (CMI) order was killed while he was traveling by motorbike from the Lingampet area to Yellareddy village in Nizamabad district.
WASHINGTON DC (BBC News) Oct. 1, 2008 – The US Senate is to vote today on a deal that would end a three-decade ban on US nuclear trade with India. It is the final legislative hurdle in a negotiation process which began three years ago when the deal was agreed.
The deal would give India access to US civilian nuclear technology and fuel in return for inspections of its civilian, but not military, nuclear facilities.
India says the deal is vital to meet its rising energy needs. Critics say it creates a dangerous precedent.
They say it effectively allows India to expand its nuclear power industry without requiring it to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as other nations must.
IAEA-Indian Nuclear Safeguards Agreement: A Critical Analysis
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
