Indian Goverment adm,its its agencies support cause of Dalit Christians

The Government has said that the National Commission for Minorities (NCM) has recommended the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes(SC/ST) status to converts to Christianity.

Minister for Minority Affairs, Shri Salman Khurshid, made the statement during the Rajya Sabha session on August 3.

Khurshid, in a written letter, apprised the Upper House of the Parliament that "National Commission for Minorities, under Section 9(1) of the National Commission for Minorities Act 1992, recommended that Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes(SC/ST) converts to Christianity or Islam should continue to enjoy all privileges and benefits as SCs/STs on par with the SC/ST converts to Buddhism."

He continued: "Further, in 1997, NCM recommended for the outright removal of the Proviso in Constitution (Scheduled Caste) Order, 1950 which confines the SC status strictly to three specified religions."

He also cited the annual report of the National Commission for Minorities, 2006-07 that recommended, “Christian and Muslim dalits be given the benefit of affirmative action through reservation.”

There are about 20 million Dalit Christians in India fighting against the deprival of their rights and discrimination faced on grounds of religion. Their social, economic and educational benefits have been dismantled due to their conversion to Christianity.

Today, the Supreme Court was to respond to a Public Interest Litigation filed by an NGO and Franklin Caesar, a Dalit activist based in New Delhi.

Caesar told Christian Today that the court adjourned the hearing for after eight weeks. He was very disappointed that in spite of substantial reasons to grant the SC status to Christians, the court and the government is delaying the case.

"The letter of Khurshid surely is a positive sign that the government wants to render SC status. But, it is being delayed due to fear of Opposition and various other reasons, the government is unable to disclose," Caesar, who is also the coordinator of National Council of Dalit Christians, said.

"The Congress govt in its 1996 manifesto had promised to extend the benefits to Christians. They further proposed a bill in the government. The Cabinet also discussed this in 2008. But, none have taken any concrete steps to bring justice," he rues.

The National Commission for Minorities has clearly stood positive on the side of Dalit Christians. In its report, last year, it said, "There is a strong case for according Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Muslims and Christians."

The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Ranganath Misra (Retd), also have maintained that Dalit Christians and Dalit Muslims be included in the reserved category.

But sadly, since last year, the Supreme Court of India has repeatedly delayed the hearing on lawsuits by Dalit Christians and Muslims requesting restoration of full Constitutional rights.

If finally the court acts judiciously, fifty-nine year wait of Dalit Christians would come to an end

Indian Christian leaders protest at Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi; demand Islamabad end Blasphemy laws, protect community reeling under violence

Leaders of the Christian community in India demonstrated at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi on Friday, 7^th August, demanding that the Pakistan government repeal the so called Blasphemy laws and punish those responsible for burning alive of nine Pakistani Christians in violence in recent days.

The protest was called by the National United Christian Forum, the All India Christian Council and other groups. A delegation led by NUF President Archbishop Vincent Concessao and consisting of Delhi Catholic auxiliary bishop Franco Mulakkal, Christian Council secretary general Dr John Dayal, Bishop Simon John of Believers Church, the Auxiliary bishop of the Orthodox Church, Catholic spokesperson Fr Dominic and Sr Nirmalini called on the acting High Commissioner and submitted a Memorandum addressed to the Pakistan President.

The demonstration, which saw the participation of Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Pentecost churches, as also the Salvation Army, the scholars of the Vidya Jyoti College of Theology, and others, earlier assembled at the Pakistan High Commission where prohibitory orders had been imposed by the police. The protestors sang hymns. Speakers gave details of the violence in Pakistan and the plight of religious minorities in general in that country.

The following is the text of the Memorandum submitted to the Pakistan President:

Re: Anguish and protest at the brutal burning alive of Nine Christians and destruction of 200 houses in arson in Pakistan’s Korian and Gojra area in Toba Tek Singh District, and abuse of the so called Anti Blasphemy laws to persecute religious minorities

Your Excellency

Greetings from the Christian community and the secular society of the Republic of India.

You know how the people of India have shared your anguish over the deaths of scores of innocents in various Pakistani cities at the hands of religious and political fanatics. India too has been victim of such violence, and we know that the innocent always suffer in the mindlessness of terrorism.

But there is nothing random in violence against religious and other minority communities. Over the years, religious minorities, both Hindu, Sikh and Christian, but particularly Christian, have been targets of brutal violence planned in deeprooted conspiracy and abetted by agencies of State, incouding local police. Such violence reeks of intolerance and the impunity of state agencies smacks of official connivance. We share ties of blood and faith with our sisters and brothers across the border, and have always felt their terror, their pain and their suffering.

But nothing in recent decades since the Partition of the subcontinent exceeds in shocking brutality the events in the Persecution in Village 362, JB, Korian, Gojra, District, Toba Tek Singh on 26^th July 2009.

Marauding gangs let loose a frenzy of violence on children, women and men who were in the midst of wedding celebrations in a village called Korian Chak number 362 JB, very close to the small city of sub Division Gojra, District, Toba Tek Singh. Some children had shredded an old book to make confetti to shower on the newly wedded couple. This was a not a holy book, but apparently a book on Islamic studies. There was uproar in the village. However, the matter was settled amicably when it became clear that this had been done by children who were illiterate and there was no intention of desecrating any holy texts.

But hardliners would not want peace. They accused the Christians of blasphemy and desecration, a charge that has now become routine against the community. Around sunset on 30^th July a large mob descended on Korian demanding that Taalib Masih (the father of the children) be hanged for blasphemy. Fortunately the Christians had been forewarned and had already fled their homes to safer places. The mob then began its spree of looting and burning the 70 to 80 Christian houses in the village. The two small churches, one Protestant and the other Pentecostal, were ransacked but not burned down. Sharief Masih a disabled who was not able to run away died a day before yesterday as he was in a trauma.

Christians in many surrounding villages and towns began receiving threats as Mullahs (Muslim clerics) began preaching hatred and revenge. On 1^st August a large mob moved towards a Christian locality called Christian Town in the centre of Gojra city near railway station. They carried sticks, clubs and even firearms. The small police force’s half-hearted attempt to stop them was ineffective. The Christians tried to resist the mob. The mob besieged the locality and went on a rampage, looting and burning about 100 Christian houses. Police reinforcements arrived by late afternoon, but it was too late - the damage had been done. Till evening bodies were being recovered from the smoking ruins of the houses. The number of injured is not known, but 8 Christians were killed, two of them children.

It was planned to have the funeral of the 7 Christians around noon on Sunday, 2^nd August. But when Atif Jamil Pagaan, central convener Pakistan Minorities Democratic Movement, came to know that the police had not yet registered a report against 12 persons whom the Christians had identified and two city officials for criminal negligence, they refused to release the bodies for burial. But the police delayed in registering the report, offered to enter a milder, watered-down version instead. The Christians continue to protest.

The Pakistani civil society and the Christian community have demanded the government repeal the Blasphemy Law that was repeatedly being misused and had now caused the death of nine innocent Christians. Pakistani Christian leaders have urged the government to ensure equal rights and protection for the community.

There are indications that the attack on Korian, as well as on Gojra, was planned and the people instigated by a banned Islamic group. Such extremist Islamic groups want a sort of religious cleansing. What happened in Korian and Gojra was almost a replication of what had happened near Kasur a small city about 40 kilometres from Lahore only a month ago. Similarly, in 2005, in the town of Sangla Hill, Christian houses, two churches, the pastor’s houses, a high school and convent were ransacked and badly damaged. In 1997 a large Christian village called Shantinagar was reduced to ruins. In all these cases the police did almost nothing to stop the rampaging mobs.

The Christian community in India joins with the peace-loving people across the world and supports the demand by Pakistan Civil Society and the Minority communities, specially the Christians, for strong action by Federal and Provincial authorities to bring the guilty to book and to create an environment of peace in which the religious minorities can regain their confidence.

Mr President, you will agree a modern Pakistan can have nothing less.

Our good wishes remain with the people of Pakistan of all communities.

Signed by Archbishop Vincent M Concessao on behalf of the Christian community in India.

No interefence, community tells Government

PRESS STATEMENTPanaji, Goa, 4th August 2009
Christian community rejects Government intervention in Religion
No Question of Govt. control on Church and community properties
Transparency in Church affairs an internal matter of Community; laws of land sufficient to check any irregularity
[The following is the text of the Statement issued on behalf of the All India Catholic Union by its Official Spokesman, Dr John Dayal, Member, National Integration Council, Government of India, and Immediate Past President, AICU, Secretary General, All India Christian Council, at a Press Conference in Panaji, Goa stating its formal position on the Media controversy suggesting Government control on Institutional and religious properties of the Christian community in the country.]
The Christian community across India, already reeling under the aftermath of the massacres in Orissa and persecution in Karnataka and other states, has been taken aback at the controversial suggestions in the media for government control on church and community properties. The controversy is entirely uncalled for, the suggestions and allegations are based on misinformation and disinformation, they do not help in the security and nurture of the Christian community as they in the final analysis and finally they only subserve the agenda of communal and sectarian political forces. The issue goes beyond Goa, and in fact beyond the catholic churches as it concerns all States and all Denominations of the Church, Catholic, Protestant and Evangelical. The Christian community of India rejects Government intervention in Religion in any form and in any guise. There is, of course, no question of Government control on Church and community properties
The temporal, or material such as holding property, aspects of the Christian Church in secular India after Independence are guaranteed under Article 26 of the Constitution. Church properties, whether they be places of worship, Educational or professional institutions etc and community land, are more than adequately covered under the Law of the Land, which include laws for the conduct of Societies, Associations, Trusts and Companies, the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act, as also concerned Special Laws in various states, municipalities or other civic authorities. These, and provisions of the Indian Penal Code, are also more than adequate to investigate and prosecute rare cases of corruption and, indeed, adequately oversee all aspects of the church's interaction with the State in matters of finance, properties etc.
The Christian situation differs radically and materially from that for Hindu, Muslim and Sikh religions, which has been cited by the proponents of such a Bill.. The laws governing properties and functioning of those religions are born out of individual histories of their faith before and after Independence. In Islam, for instance, the matter of Wakf is integral to their Faith. In Hinduism where Religious Boards exist for governing temples, their history traces itself to the ownership of such properties by erstwhile princely states which was subsequently vested in the Boards – which is th situation in Andhra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. In the case of the Sikhs, the Shiiromani Gurudwara Prabandhakl Committee laws were born out of protracted struggle by the people and the then British government against armed followers of `mahants' who would conquer rich Gurudwaras. The Sikh community in fact rejected the Act proposed by the Government and put forth its own reformed laws. I may also point out that leaders of the Muslim community have often complained of political and administrative interference from Government in the Wakf Board, an the SGPC is highly politicized with the Akali Dal in command in recent years. Above all, the SGPC and the Devasthanam Boards cover only a few prominent places of worship and their properties.
The Goa situation seemingly differs from the rest of the country because of its history as a former Portuguese colony re-conquered by India in December 1961, as held by the Supreme Court of India. Only those Portuguese laws remain operational in Goa as have been accepted by the Government of India, and those rejected by the Republic are no longer valid. In the case of the Church in Goa, the radical change of course is that while the colonial power in a way subsided the Catholic church, secular India does not. I have it on the highest legal authority that the “Concordata” once signed between the colonial government in Lisbon and the Holy See “is dead as a secular state does not finance or have any other relationship with the Church.” In practice, only the powers relating to Marriage and Annulment remain operational as the law of the land.
The Catholic Church in Goa has modern, detailed and foolproof written regulations in its two important documents :General Statutes of Confraternities” and “Rules and regulations of Fabricas / Cofres” , which guarantee transparency and responsibility in temporal transactions in great details. As in the rest of India, Church structures contain the participation of both the Clergy and the laity at various levels.” These inbuilt reforms and structures ensuring utter transparency in property and financial transactions, are not beyond the Law of the Land.
I may also mention that while the Church in Goa, some cities of Kerala and Mumbai may seem rich, elsewhere in the country, Church and community are exceedingly poor. Over 60 per cent of the Christian community is of Dalit origin, and 20 per cent of Indigenous tribes. Most of these groups are as poor as their brethren of other faiths. The Church works in the poorest areas of the country. Its schools and dispensaries exist where even the governments cannot ensure one.
A micro minority such as the Christian Church in India needs to breathe the air of Freedom and be beyond both reproach and fear to be able to fulfill its destiny,and continue its work in social action,particularly health and education, the care of orphans and the terminally ill. Government intervention, which is synonymous with political and administrative interference as is our experience and that of other communities, can only throttle this critical freedom.
The Church is responsible to the community at large, subservient to the law of the land, and above all, answerable to a Higher power.

Day for Peace

--------

AUGUST 23, 2009 TO BE OBSERVED FOR PEACE & HARMONY

PRESS RELEASE

23 July 2009

Bhubaneswar, July 23, 2009: Orissa is known as the land of “peace and harmony”. But this peace and harmony was shattered by the gruesome murder of Swami Lakhmananda Saraswati and his disciples on August 23, 2008 and the ensuing mindless violence against innocent men, women and children in Kandhamal and across Orissa. By perpetrating this mindless and brutal violence on the Swami, his disciples and hundreds and thousands of innocent people, the criminals have tarnished the image of Orissa and India in the sight of the global community.

As the law of the land searches for those who conducted these heinous acts, we await patiently for the true criminals to be booked as per law. At this critical juncture we will not allow criminalization of those past painful events to reoccur. Since “Peace and Harmony” was disturbed on August 23, 2008, leading to ensuing violence for several months, it is necessary to establish and remember August 23, 2009 as a day for “Peace and Harmony” so that the evil designs of “Criminals” to divide the civil society on religious lines is strongly thwarted. In order to ensure that such hate campaign and violence do not wreak havoc in the land of “peaceful” Orissa, the Christian community and minority leadership represented by us express the strong desire to:

1. Launch August 23, 2009 as a day to be observed for Peace and Harmony in remembrance of the killing of Swamiji, his disciples and many innocent people in the subsequent violence perpetrating on thousands of innocent people in Kandhamal and across the State of Orissa.

2. Calling on the civil society to unite in the face of continued evil designs of “criminals” to disrupt the peaceful co-existence of communities in Orissa.

3. Calling on the Government of India and State Government of Orissa to declare and observe the day as a day for Peace and Harmony.

4. Calling on the United Nations to declare the day as a “Global Day for Peace and Harmony” to ensure that such violence is not perpetuated on any community or individuals in any part of the world.

5. Calling on the International Community to observe it as a Day for Peace and Harmony in memory of the pain and suffering faced in Kandhamal.

6. To strongly request the State Government of Orissa and the Government of India to provide complete security and protection to religious minorities, their lives, property, institutions, places of worship, etc. from being attacked and destroyed, more so since “criminals” might want to indulge in any wrongful action against the civil society on such sensitive days.

7. To strongly request the State Government of Orissa and Government of India to provide complete security to Swamijis, their disciples and Ashrams since any violence on them is misused by “Criminals” to attack religious minority and spread terror.

We hope this message of goodwill and harmony would spread across the land of Orissa and India. Let us “forgive and forget” the past and build a strong and integrated civil society which is not ravaged by the evil designs of criminals and trouble mongers. Let us unite for peace and harmony in our State of Orissa and across India.

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath, SVD Dr.Swarupananda Patra

Archbishop, President, Orissa Minority Forum,

Archdiocese of Cuttack- Bhubaneswar Chairman, Orissa

Secular Front, Orissa Cell.: 9337856156

Email: patra_sn@yahoo.com

ALL INDIA CHRISTIAN COUNCIL

Press Note

29 June 2009

Christians seek urgent protection of witnesses of Orissa violence, rehabilitation of victims of Orissa violence, SC rights for Dalit Christians

The Christian community today asked the Union government to intervene decisively in Orissa and ensure the protection of witnesses whose lives are being threatened by criminals, including politicians and legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party charged with multiple murders in the anti Christian violence of August-October 2008.

Community representatives were invited today by the new Central Minister for Minority Affairs, Mr. Salman Khursheed, at his offices to appraise himself of the issues confronting the 2.6 crore [26 million] Christians in the country. The Christian delegation consisted of Delhi Catholic auxiliary Bishop Franco, Believers Bishop Simon John, All India Christian Council Secretary General Dr John Dayal, Sister Molly of St Beads College, Shimla and others. The Minister said he would take up with concerned ministries in the Union government and with the state governments issues that had been brought to his notice.

The Christian delegation demanded that the community be consulted in the formulation of the proposed Equal Opportunities Commission, the Anti-Communal Violence Bill and the Educational reforms that Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal has proposed in his public statements recently. The delegation also impressed on the minister the urgent need to give Scheduled Caste status to Dalit Christians, the setting up of a Commission to assess economic deprivation in the community on the lines of the Justice Sachhar committee for Muslims, commensurate share in central development funds, full relief and rehabilitation to all victims of communal violence in Orissa and other states, an end to harassment of Christian educational institutions, pastors, evangelists in various states, and abrogation of all so called Freedom of Religion laws passed by both BJP and Congress ruled states.

The following is the text of the memo presented to the minister:

Mr Salman Khursheed

Hon’ble Minister, Independent Charge

Ministry for Minority Affairs, New Delhi

Dear Minister

Greetings from the All India Christian Council and the other organisations I have the honour to represent. Please also accept our congratulations on your election to the Lok Sabha, and your installation as Minister with Independent Charge of Minority Affairs, an important portfolio that can help ensure strengthening of the very foundations of a secular and united India.

We thank you for inviting us to this meeting, even as we take this opportunity to express how touched we are at the feelings expressed last week by Union Home Minister Mr P Chidambaram who, during his visit to Orissa, offered an apology to the victims of Hindutva violence in the Kandhamal region. We expect the expressions of remorse will be followed by unremitting action by the Union and State governments in unison till confidence is restored, the guilty punished, the victims rehabilitated with all human dignity, and a Witness Protection Programme put into operation to ensure justice in the courts. My colleague Dr. Sampaul, the National Secretary of the All India Christian Council, has already written this in a letter to Mr Chidambaram.

As you are aware, the Church in India called upon all people, and specially Christians, to fully take part in the political democratic process in the General Elections, as it wanted India to emerge as nation strong enough to combat terrorism, communalism, and casteism. We continue to be deeply concerned at the rural crisis, urban poverty, and rise in unemployment, displacement in the SEZs – as Christians too are sufferers together with others -- and the plight of women and the girl child.

The Christian community puts its own interests subservient to the interests of the Nation. But it feels that there are certain issues which are paramount – security of Religious Minorities, compensation to the victims at par with that given in other states, proportionate share to Christians in funds and projects earmarked for all minorities, as also in government jobs, civil services, police and other services, and removal of obstructions in the continuation and growth of our effort in the education, health and social service sectors.

On the eve of the General Elections, National consultations of Church and community leaders, presided over by Archbishop Vincent Concessao, with Dr John Dayal as the convenor, formulated urgent issues agitating the community. We had given such a list to the Prime Minister in his previous government and to your predecessor in the ministry. We also held consultations with the Planning Commission once to ensure that the National Five year Plans, as well as the National Census and National Sample Surveys reflected the Christian reality in the hinterland. Nothing has been done, and therefore we present you once again some, not all, of the grave issues that confront the Christian community and challenge the people and the Church.

Our immediate anxiety, of course, continues to be Orissa where the situation remains grave, as Mr Chidambaram saw for himself, with thousands in government refugee camps, tens of thousands not able to return home under threat of being killed or forcibly converted to Hinduism by the local Sabah Parivar activists, and witnesses to murders, rape and mayhem being threatened with death by goons of the culprits. It is a shame and slur on democratic processes that two of the men accused of murders have been elected to the State Assembly on Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, and they are using their political clout to evade justice.

Our other major issues, requiring your urgent attention are:

1. Security of Religious Minorities: The Christian community had felt itself very safe in India since Independence, and the formative years of the democracy under Jawaharlal Nehru, and then under the premiership of Lal Bahadur Shashtri, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi. But after a spurt of violence in 1998-1999, hate crimes against the Church and the Christian community have been increasing alarmingly since 1997, averaging about 250 incidents a year. But 2007 and 2008 have seen such violence reach an unprecedented level. The violence has not been confined to Orissa. Fourteen other States have been affected, seven seriously. Karnataka is now second only to Orissa in crimes against Christians. Orissa in 2008 saw 120 deaths, 4,600 houses burnt, over 300 villages purged of Christians, and women, including religious women, raped. Six thousand men, women and children are still in government refugee camps, from the peak of 26,000. Battalions of Central forces are needed to maintain peace, and yet a sense of deep insecurity permeates the community in Orissa.

a. The Union Government must carry out a full investigation into the nationwide activities of extremist groups accused of the incitement and perpetration of violence against minority groups, including Hindutva groups, their foreign finances, and their penetration into the administrative and police apparatus.

b. Enforcing rule of law, ending Impunity of state, Police and criminal justice dispensation system in assuring Freedom of Faith: In State after State, the community has watched in utter helplessness uniformed Policemen accompany assailants attacking institutions, churches and house churches. In States such as Manipur, even villages have dared pass laws against Christians, banning conversions and excommunicating people. Pastors and Priests have been arrested on false charges, denied bail, and harassed. Often, the police have stood by while Priests, pastors and Lay persons were beaten up, often in the glare of Television Cameras. The Subordinate magistracy and judiciary have often been partisan in their conduct. This impunity must end.

c. The Prevention of Communal Violence Bill must take cognisance of Christian concerns and apprehensions. Government cannot shrug off responsibility. The rehabilitation seems to have been left to the Church. It is for the governments to reconstruct damaged and destroyed homes, institutions and churches, and provide adequate and commensurate compensation to the victims. These would be deterrent, in fact, to violence against the community.

2. Redress Economic deprivation and reversal of Unemployment and under-employment amongst Christian youth—Need for a National Commission on the lines of the Justice Rajender Sachhar Commission set up for Muslims: There is over 8 [Eight] per cent joblessness amongst Christian youth, the highest among minorities. Tribal Christian girls are amongst the most deprived in terms of education and nourishment. Rural employment generation schemes and central special components for marginalised groups do not reach their Christian counterparts in Tribal and Rural India There is no real assessment as to what extent institutions such as the National Minorities Financial Development Corporation, or sundry scholarship schemes have benefitted the Christian community even if they may have benefited some other Minorities. The Government must urgently set up a Commission on the Pattern of the Justice Sachhar committee to survey and assess the quantum of deprivation, marginalisation and lack of devolution of developmental initiatives, to the Christian community. Government must ensure fair spending on a pro rata basis on the Christian community from schemed meant to benefit the minority communities. Dalits, Tribals, Landless labour and marginal farmers, coastal and fishery workers and urban youth remain major victims.

3. Dalit Christian rights: Successive governments have betrayed Christians of Dalit origin. The Constitution of 1950 provided for affirmative action for Scheduled Castes without reference to religion. The Presidential Order of 1950, subsequently made into law, communalised the affirmative action by penalising those who converted to other faiths. Subsequently, government extended the privileges once again to Sikhs and Buddhists of Dalit origin. Christians remain deprived of these rights, though several Study Groups and National Commissions have strongly recommended that these rights be given to Dalit Christians. This in effect communalises the secular Indian Constitution. Government must pass legislation to immediately restore the Constitution to its 26 January 1950 position on this issue so that Dalit Christians get all privileges and safeguards that are given to their brothers and sisters professing other faiths. The recommendations of the Justice Rang Nath Misra Commission should be implemented.

4. Assault on right of Tribal Christians: Strident and frightening statements have been made in right wing Hindutva groups in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, among others, threatening to deny Christian Tribals their statutory rights in Education, land and employment, and to restrict Tribal rights to only those who convert to Hinduism. This violates Constitutional guarantees, and divided the Tribal people. The Union government must thwart all such nefarious efforts and hate mongering.

5. Irrational and Bigoted implementation of Forest Act and its implications for Dalit Christians: Recent experience in Orissa’s Kandhamal and other districts have shown how Supreme Court guidelines are being ignored in the implementation of the Forest Act, and traditional forest dwellers, many of them Dalits, are being deprived of their land, livelihood and even liberty as false cases are being brought against them. This, of course, must cease forthwith. The right of all indigenous dwellers must be protected according to the guidelines of the Supreme Court and witch-hunt and harassment must end.

6. Erosion of Minority rights under Article 30: Various State governments and political parties have tried to infringe upon Article 30, and have made persistent efforts to erode the rights of Minorities to run and administer educational institutions. Christian educational institutions have frequently had to approach the Supreme Court of India to try to protect these fundamental rights. The ironically titled Freedom of Religion Bills actually erodes the Constitutional right to Freedom to profess, practice and propagate faith. They have become instruments of persecution, and in fact, provide an excuse for criminal and communal elements to target the Church and Christian workers in particular when they exercise their right to propagate their faith. Government must assure there will be no effort in the future to infringe upon, erode, or nibble at Minority educational and other Constitutional rights under any pretext.

7. The Union government must use its good offices to ensure that state governments – both under Congress Control and run by other parties – withdraw laws they have passed under the guise of Freedom of Religion, which in actuality, are being used to brutally suppress Christianity and punish Pastors, Priests, Nuns and church workers.

8. Shrinking Secular-Spiritual Space: State and city administrations are auctioning land for schools and hospitals in the Open Market. The result is that the Church and Voluntary sector can no longer get legal possession of low cost land for providing Educational and health facilities to the marginalised groups are affordable prices. In addition, new townships and urban spaces, most of them now in the private sector, do not provide for simple and basic Secular spaces, including plots of land for Churches and cemeteries. In many new urban conglomerates in the emerging landscape, there is, in fact, no provision for cemeteries at all. Union and State Governments must ensure adequate and commensurate Secular and Spiritual Space – Education land, cemeteries etc

9. Ending gender-bias and upholding the rights of women in reforms in Christian Personal Laws: Christian Women more than a decade ago led a campaign for reforms in Christian personal laws which dated from the Nineteenth Century. Though some progress has been made, Governments have been tardy in passing reform amendments to the centuries' old Christian personal laws despite the united endorsement and support by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, the National Council of Churches, the Joint Women’s Programme and others. Political parties must assure the community that laws will reformed in full as devised in the documents prepared by the united Christian campaign to bring them in line with contemporary demands of gender rights.

10. We welcome the concept of an Equal Opportunity commission, but it must be formed in consultation with the Christian community and other minority groups.

11. We also demand statutory status to the Minority Commission and assurances that such Central commissions work for the actual benefit of the communities and not as adjuncts of political parties.

12. The Church and the Community uphold the sanctity of life and any attempt to destroy it at any stage is unacceptable. Advances and research in science, such as stem cell research, cloning, transplants, must be in consonance with ethical and moral values. Legislation must not be passed which compromises human life in any form and which justifies meddling with the established processes in nature in the guise of scientific research.

13. Special Memorandum on Orissa: The Union government must use its good offices with the Orissa government to:

i. Ensure that (with reference to the ruling of the Supreme Court in Writ Petitions) police unfailingly assist victims of violence to submit FIRs.

ii. There must be a Witness Protection Programme put into immediate operation giving serious consideration to the need for a suitable atmosphere for victims and witnesses to testify, in order to expedite prosecutions and convictions;

iii. Investigate reports of police officers failing to register cases or showing complicity in attacks, and bring prosecutions against offending officers;

iv. Supply a substantial number of investigating officers and public prosecutors, and implement fast-track courts in at least four locations in Kandhamal district.

v. Investigate the forcible conversion of Christians to Hinduism, and prosecute perpetrators under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code;

vi. Request that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) carry out an investigation into the assassination of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakhmanananda Saraswati and the subsequent anti-Christian violence from 24^th August 2008, paying specific attention to the root causes of this violence, including the propagation of anti-Christian hatred;

vii. Undertake the following actions with regard to relief camps, taking into consideration the UN Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement:

1. Provide an adequate standard of living to the inhabitants of relief camps, in accordance with the definition given in Principle 18;

2. Provide education to displaced children in relief camps, in accordance with Principle 23;

3. Ensure that relief camps continue until the establishment of suitable conditions and the means for the displaced persons to return voluntarily, in safety and with dignity, to their homes, or to resettle voluntarily, in accordance with Principle 28;

4. Grant permission and security to lawyers, priests and medical teams to visit relief camps in Kandhamal;

viii. Provide further compensation for those who have been affected by the violence, including covering the loss of crops, livestock and employment, and assess required levels of compensation on a case-by-case basis through certified independent evaluators;

ix. The Government should take measures to carry out an extensive research with the view to rehabilitating the victims of violence, make the recommendations public, and implement them without loss of time.

x. Undertake to follow the recommendations of the National Commission for Minorities in September 2008 on the establishment of Peace Committees, and further to take measures to ensure that all communities are adequately represented within such Peace Committees, to enable these to promote reconciliation and inter-communal understanding with integrity;

xi. Establish a State Commission for Minorities (in the model of its national counterpart) and ensure that members of the commission are appointed by transparent and non-partisan procedures;

xii. Repeal the Orissa Freedom of Religion Act, 1967.

xiii. Provide further compensation for those who have been affected by the violence, including covering the loss of crops, livestock and employment, and assess required levels of compensation on a case-by-case basis through certified independent evaluators;

Thank you

God Bless India

Dr. John Dayal