In a disturbing new development in India Hindu extremists have been calling in TV crews to film them attacking missionaries and pastors. The All-India Christian Council warns that fanning the flames of hatred could lead to a massacre.

The attacks have been screened on Indian TV, spreading fear among Christians and prompting claims that TV is facilitating the growing violence. 

It comes as Hindu extremists in India are stepping up their attacks against Christians. According to the All India Christian Council (AICC) violence against Christians has increased more than tenfold in the past decade. 

AICC President, Dr Joseph D’souza, says militants have been orchestrating attacks against Christians for more than a year, and their intensity is building. But he says this latest move to televise the violence has ‘traumatised’ the Christian community. Following the TV screening Christians have staged protest rallies outside Parliament in New Delhi and in other states and districts.

Pastor Walter Masih’s nine-year-old daughter watched helplessly as a mob rained down blows on her father in Jaipur, Rajasthan, while the TV cameras that had been called in to spread the message of that violence captured every moment. She’s still deeply disturbed by what she has seen.  

In a second televised attack in Kolhapur, Maharashtra, militants punched a Tamil pastor in the stomach. At the same time others in the mob explained to the camera crew they had called in that they were from Hindutva groups - even as they rained blows at the head of a second pastor.

The story of the attacks features in the latest edition of the video webcast World Update on the Persecuted Church by Release International. World Update is intended to be a focus for worldwide prayer. It is available for download from the website: www.releaseinternational.org

There have been calls to investigate the Indian media’s role in screening these attacks to order – some have accused TV stations of being a party to the violence.

‘We fear this overwhelming cloud of hate and violence has in it the seeds of tragedy. I hope and pray it will not lead to a massacre of my community,’ said Dr Joseph D’souza, the President of All-India Christian Council. The AICC is calling for Hindus who attack Christians to be charged with hate crimes.

So far seven Indian states have passed anti-conversion laws, including Rajasthan, where the attack against Walter Masih took place. Another state is poised to follow, when the Hindu nationalist BJP party delivers on its pre-election pledge in the northern state of Uttarakhand.

‘These anti-conversion laws are being used to stamp out Christian witness and justify brutality against India’s minority Christian community,’ says Andy Dipper, the Chief Executive of Release International. 

‘We join with the All India Christian Council in calling on the Indian government to halt the spread of this firestorm - while it still can - and repeal the anti-conversion laws.’

The AICC reports anti-Christian violence in Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa, Karnataka, Andhra, Maharashtra and Himachal. Along with that, increasing numbers of Christian women are being raped, particularly in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh.

According to the AICC, the authorities have remained silent and passive in the face of the spreading violence. ‘Let there be rule of law, and let the Constitution prevail in every state of the country,’ says Dr Joseph D’souza. 

He continues: ‘The present violence against the Christian community in general, and pastors and priests in particular, takes us back to the dark days of 1998-2000 of the mass violence against Gujarat Christians and the brutal Orissa murder of Graham Stuart Staines and his young sons Philip and Timothy.’ Militants set fire to their vehicle and burnt Graham Staines and his children to death.

‘Please pray that God would strengthen and protect the Christian community in India, adds Andy Dipper of Release International. ‘Also pray the authorities would take a stand against the divisive anti-conversion movement and restrain these violent extremists.’ 

The incidents took place on April 29 and May 8.
 

Protest rallies were scheduled for May 29.
 

Christians make up just 2.3 per cent of the population of India.
 

The links below go to video reports of the violence screened on the CNN-IBN television news channel:

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/39994/vhp-activists-beat-up-two-priests.html

All India Christian Council: www.aiccindia.org
 

World Update on the Persecuted Church by Release International, featuring this story, can be found at: www.releaseinternational.org

For further information, please contact Andrew Boyd on 01730 301905 or Release International on 01689 823491 or by email at info@releaseinternational.org

Through our international network of missions RI serves persecuted Christians in 30 countries, supporting pastors and Christian prisoners and their families, supplying Christian literature and Bibles, and working for justice. RI is a member of the UK organisations Global Connections, the Evangelical Alliance and the Micah Network.