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Shoot-at-sight orders in Orissa to check riots
Police in Orissa were given shoot-at-sight orders yesterday to tame rising violence between Hindus and Christians that has so far left 11 people dead and the Pope "profoundly saddened".
- Reuters
- Published: 23:39 August 27, 2008
Bhubaneswar: Police in Orissa were given shoot-at-sight orders yesterday to tame rising violence between Hindus and Christians that has so far left 11 people dead and the Pope "profoundly saddened".
Three bodies were found on Tuesday night in rural Kandhamal district, where Hindu mobs have damaged more than a dozen churches and attacked Christian homes and an orphanage this week.
The violence, which seems to be spreading to new districts, was sparked by the murder of a Hindu leader in Kandhamal, a tribal area where Christian missionaries have been active for years.
The murdered leader had been heading a local campaign to reconvert Hindus and tribal people from Christianity.
The worst violence was reported from Kandhamal's Barakhama village on Tuesday, where Hindus and Christians clashed and shot at each other, killing four people. That toll could rise as police look for more bodies and clear out burnt debris.
Curfew extended
Authorities extended a curfew and issued orders to police to shoot on sight any troublemaker in 11 towns of Kandhamal.
Most of the dead so far have been Christians.
Hundreds of policemen marched through Kandhamal to maintain calm, but the violence spread to nearby districts.
Hardline Hindus in the region accuse Christian priests of bribing poor tribes and low-caste Hindus to change their faith. Christian groups say lower-caste Hindus who convert do so willingly to escape the highly stratified and oppressive Hindu caste system.
In the Vatican, Pope Benedict condemned the violence against Christians but also deplored the killing of the Hindu leader.
"While I firmly condemn every attack on human life, whose sacredness requires respect by all, I express my spiritual closeness and solidarity to the brothers and sisters in the faith who are so sorely tried," he told pilgrims and tourists during an address.
India's constitution is secular, but most of its billion-plus citizens are Hindu. About 2.5 per cent of Indians are Christians.
But around the Kandhamal area, home to around 650,000 people, more than 20 per cent of the mainly tribal inhabitants are Christian converts.
Sporadic violence
Orissa police inspector general Pradeep Kapoor said sporadic violence was being reported from the state's other districts such as Baragarh, Bolangir, Raigada and Gajapati.
Police blamed the killings on local Maoist rebels taking sides in a controversy over religious conversions, but Hindus say Christians were to blame.
A top body of Indian bishops said some 25,000 Catholic schools and colleges in India would be closed on Friday in protest against the killings.
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