A church in the south Indian State of Karnataka, became the latest target of violence by Hindu fundamentalists, when it was attacked on 22 November, 1998. The incident, the latest in a spate of recent incidents of violence against Christians, follows a well-planned assault on a Convent near Delhi by members of RSS, a Hindu fundamentalist organization, in the second week of November 1998.

The two attacks were the latest in a series of assaults on Christians and their property since Hindu Nationalists became the ruling party after the February 1997 Parliamentary elections in India.

In the first incident, the attack on a convent school in South India, a mob of Hindu fundamentalists stormed the Convent, drove out all the children and then abused the nuns for 30 minutes. Women from the village came to the rescue of the nuns and took them to safety. It is alleged that the matter was immediately reported to the police, but no action has been taken to bring the culprits to justice. Christian leaders claim that members of India's most influential Hindu fundamentalist group, RSS, were responsible for the attack.

In the second incident, on November 22 1998, well-trained members of the RSS attacked a church in the Kulai village of Karnataka, south India. The Hindu militants, armed with Lathis (sticks), sickles and hockey-sticks, disrupted a service at the St Thomas Evangelical Church and severely beat up members of the congregation. The pastor who was also attacked was later admitted to hospital. The militants desecrated the church and destroyed all the church records. The attacks are the first of their kinds in the Karnataka State and give an indication that anti- Christian sentiment have now spread to all parts of India.

In an earlier incident four nuns belonging to the missionary group, Foreign Missionary Sisters, were gang raped by Hindu militants in the Jhabua district of Madhaya Pardesh in central India on 23rd September 1998. Despite eyewitness accounts by the victims, who clearly identified the Hindu Fundamentalists, who carried out the atrocities, no arrests were made.

The United Christian Forum For Christian Human Rights has released a document under the title 'Open White Paper' which details 113 reported incidents of attacks on Christians in India in the last two years. Indian Christian leaders are appalled at the inaction of the authorities and the absence of government condemnation of the increasing violence against Christians. December 4 has been set as a day of protest when Christian activists will hold a hunger strike and submit a petition to Parliament.

Dr Simon Qadri added, "CSW unequivocally condemns this campaign of terror unleashed by Hindu Fundamentalists against members of the peace loving Christian minority. We urge the Indian government to outlaw the hate speech which incites violence against members of minority communities and urge the government to bring to justice all those responsible for these acts of violence. May we remind the present Indian government that religious freedom for all citizens is guaranteed under Article 25 of the constitution".

For further information and a report on the situation of Christians in India please contact Dr Simon Qadri at the CSW office on 0208 942 8810