Item 3: General Debate

Organisation: Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

Speaker: Mr. Ellis Heasley

Thank you, Mr President,

CSW is highly concerned by the spread of incitement and communal violence across India.

Last month, Ayatu Ram Podiyami and his family were attacked in their home in Gufanpal, Chhattisgarh, by a Hindu nationalist mob which had pressured them to reconvert to Hinduism from Christianity.

Mr Podiyami’s father Mahngu Ram Podiyami was beaten unconscious and required critical care. He has since recovered.

In January, a Christian couple was violently attacked in their village centre of Uppaladinni in Karnataka State after one of them was falsely accused of engaging in forced conversions.

Common threads in these and other cases are that intervention from local police is insufficient or lacking, and the attackers are emboldened by the Hindu nationalist rhetoric of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

We call on the Indian government to crack down on sectarian narratives and tensions, and urge local authorities in Chhattisgarh, Karnataka and other states where communal violence is a common occurrence to ensure that investigations are comprehensive, that result in the successful prosecution of perpetrators of such crimes.

CSW is similarly concerned by persisting mob violence in Upper Egypt.

On 6 January a mob set fire to a temporary church building in Misha’at Zaafaranah in Minya Province after the government granted permission for the construction of a permanent place of worship’.

On 18 December another mob attacked a church building site and Christian homes and properties in Al-Azeeb village, also in Minya province, even though Christians had a construction permit.

We call on the Egyptian authorities to bring those responsible for these attacks to justice, and to ensure all citizens are free to practice the religion or belief of their choice.

Thank you.