Christians are increasingly becoming target of riots and mob attacks in South Asian nations, says Kerala bishops’ body
Christians shout slogans during a protest in Karachi on Aug. 20 to condemn the attack on churches in Pakistan. (Photo: AFP)
A Catholic bishops’ body has appealed to the United Nations (UN) to intervene and stop the targeted attacks against Christians in India and neighboring Pakistan.
“Christians are increasingly becoming the target of riots and mob attacks in India and Pakistan,” said an Aug. 19 statement from the Kerala Catholic Bishops Council (KCBC) based in the southern Indian state of Kerala.
The call for UN intervention comes as Manipur state in northeast India is gripped by sectarian violence since May 3 while mobs targeted Christian homes and churches at Jaranwala in Pakistan’s Punjab province on Aug. 16 following allegations of Koran desecration.
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In Manipur, violence has reportedly claimed close to 200 lives and displaced over 50,000 people, many of them now staying in relief camps and jungles. Two Christian women were paraded naked and one among them was gang raped.
Over a dozen cases of atrocities again women had been registered during the violence but the number of such cases could be higher and victims may not be able to register complaints fearing retaliation, Church leaders said.
The violence also led to the torching of hundreds of Churches and other Christian institutions including schools.
In Jaranwala, over 80 Christian homes and 19 churches were reportedly vandalized by Muslim mobs.
The bishops’ body has appealed to the UN to take decisive actions to protect Christians in South Asian nations from similar ethnic attacks.
“It is regrettable that the majority population [Muslims] in Pakistan is attacking the minority Christian community on the basis of unfounded accusations,” said Father Jacob G Palakkappilly, spokesperson of the KCBC.
He said the goal of some extremist religious organizations could have been lynching, the way “the untrue accusations” were spread against the minority community.
“It is obvious that terrorist movements feed on sectarianism and communal polarization in any nation. Through their hateful campaigns, they sow riots that force millions of people to flee because they feel unsafe,” the priest added.
Palakkappilly further pointed out that a majority of people experience attacks and persecution solely because they identify as Christians who are a minority in many countries.
India according to a recent report from New Delhi-based United Christian Forum (UCF), an ecumenical body that records persecution against Christians, recorded 400 incidents of targeted attacks against Christians in the first half of this year. In 2022, 274 were recorded during the same period.
Christians faced persecution in 23 among 28 provinces in India, the UCF report released in July said. Most of them were targeted under false allegations of religious conversion, which have been criminalized in 11 provinces by passing special laws.
The anti-conversion laws, Church leaders said, have become “a tool for pro-Hindu groups to target Christians”.
Their Sunday services and other prayer gatherings were being targeted by hardline Hindu groups with the help of local police and many Christians including pastors were being arrested, the KCBC stated.
Christians make up 2.3 percent of the 1.4 billion people in India, most of them Hindus.
In Pakistan, Christians make up only about 1.5 percent of the Islamic country’s 230 million people.
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