Kumbha Mela

Religious persecution forcing Hindus to flee Pak[istan]
(Press Trust of India)

Jaipur, September 5: Religious persecution and violation of human rights are 
forcing Hindus in Pakistan to flee to India, a Pakistani migrants association 
said on Wednesday.

Every month groups of persecuted Hindus are coming to India from Pakistan in 
the hope of a better future but due to lack of a refugee policy they face a 
tough time, the Pak Visthapit Sangh said. 

There are 17,000 Hindus from Pakistan who have yet to get Indian citizenship, 
out of whom 5,000 live in Jodhpur alone. Many of those who arrived in India 
as refugees in 1965 have also not received citizenship, Convenor of the 
Sangh, Hindu Singh Sodha, said. 

Others are scattered in Barmer, Jaisalmer, Jalore and Pali districts, Sodha 
said after meeting Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. He demanded the 
Centre should amend the citizenship act and fix a time limit for granting 
citizenship. 

Sodha also said the government should review the rehabilitation policy 
prepared in 1978 for those living in camps after leaving Pakistan in 1965 and 
1971. 

Sodha said they were not able to purchase land as several families, living in 
clusters in camps, possessed only one ration card. At the time of allotment, 
property was given to only heads named in the cards leaving many families 
landless. 

Gehlot agreed to constitute a committee with migrant representation to look 
into the problems. 


 

Criticism of Indian Christians Raises Concerns of Violence

by T.C. Malhotra ("CNS News," September 4, 2001)

Crosswalk.com News Channel - A potentially explosive row is simmering here, 
after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee criticized the activities of 
Christian missionaries in India.

Political parties and Christian missionaries have expressed concern over 
Vajpayee's weekend statement accusing some Christian missionaries of trying 
to force people to convert to their faith.

The All India Christian Council called the remark unfortunate, saying it 
would aggravate violence against minorities.

"Remarks such as these are seen as condoning the hate campaign and the 
canards, lies and half-truths that are being spread in many parts of the 
country. They encourage communal and extremist elements," the Council said in 
a statement.

The remarks also raised concerns in the political establishment, with the 
main opposition Congress Party accusing Vajpayee of "casting aspersions at 
the Christian community."

"The remarks have the potential of creating a sense of insecurity among the 
minority community," said Congress spokesman Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi.

Vajpayee made his comment at a function of a fundamentalist Hindu 
organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), in which he served as a 
volunteer for many years.

While some Christian missionaries were engaged in good work, he said, others 
were converting Hindus.

Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys mass support of Hindu voters, 
primarily marshaled by the RSS. In recent times, the government has been 
under fire from the RSS for its reformist economic policies.

Observers saw the prime minister's remarks as an attempt to reassure the RSS 
that the ruling party was not deviating from pro-Hindu policies.

The RSS welcomed Vajpayee's statement as an endorsement of its view that 
forcible Christian conversations were being carried out.

Hindu fundamentalists maintain that Christians are involved in "forced 
conversions" of poor Hindus, even though there are no independent figures to 
substantiate the claim. They charge that more than 200,000 of the 22.5 
million Christians are converts from Hindu.

Many missionaries run schools, dispensaries and old age homes in poor areas 
of India. Hindu organizations like the RSS and the World Hindu Council accuse 
some missionaries of luring poor Hindus into Christianity by offering them 
money, food, jobs and other incentives.

Christians fear the sentiment may result in more violence against their 
community. Among other incidents in recent years, an Australian missionary 
and his two sons, aged 7 and 10, were burnt to death five years ago while 
they slept in their vehicle in the eastern province of Orissa.

Right to religion is a fundamental right under the Indian constitution, which 
confers upon every citizen the right to practice his or her own religion.

However, the issue of conversion has been debated at length in India, with 
some quarters suggesting that it should be constitutionally banned.

RSS spokesman in New Delhi, M.G. Vaidya, said while the organization backed 
Vajpayee's statement, they did not believe it had been intended to cover all 
missionaries.

"It is wrong to say that the prime minister has tarred every missionary with 
the same brush. There are some missionaries who are doing sincere work, and 
they need not worry about the impact of his statement," Vaidya said.

 

Staines murder trial deferred till Sept 5

by Imran Khan ("Rediff," September 3, 2001)

The trial of Dara Singh, prime accused in the gruesome murder of the 
Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines and his two minor sons, was 
adjourned on Monday till September 5. 

The Khurda district sessions judge, Mahendra Nath Patnaik, announced the 
deferment due to absence of one of the co-accused in the case, Surat Nayak, 
who had reported sick in Bhubaneswar jail. 

The defence counsel said that Nayak was suffering from tuberculosis, and 
therefore could not attend the court. 

The defence counsel also wanted the court to direct the concerned authorities 
to provide proper treatment to Nayak. 

In response to the defence counsel's request the judge said he would ask the 
doctors of the Bhubaneswar jail and the superintendent of the Capital 
hospital to submit a report. 

The trial was scheduled to resume on Monday, after it was deferred last month 
due to absence of two other accused, including Nayak who was sick and 
suffering from viral fever and cough. 

It may be recalled that earlier too, the trial had been postponed due to 
sickness of three of the accused. Earlier, in view of the slow speed of the 
trial the court last month advised the defence counsel and the prosecution 
counsel to sit together and find out ways for the smooth conduct of the 
trial. 

Indian PM under fire over temple remarks
  
NEW DELHI, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee came 
under fire in parliament on Monday for saying he was confident that a bitter 
row over building a Hindu temple in northern India would be resolved by next 
March. 

Opposition lawmakers said Vajpayee appeared to have made the statement with 
an eye on provincial elections in the key state of Uttar Pradesh early next 
year where the disputed site is located. 

One deputy said Vajpayee's comments risked inflaming religious passions. 

Vajpayee told a news conference on Sunday that negotiations "were on to 
resolve the Ayodhya issue at different levels" and a solution would be found 
by next March, the deadline set by hardline Hindu groups to begin 
construction of the temple. 

Hindu hardliners have demanded the temple to the Hindu god-king Ram be built 
on a site in Ayodhya in northern India where a mob of Hindu fanatics razed a 
16th-century mosque in 1992, sparking India's bloodiest religious riots in 
five decades. 

"(Vajpayee's comments) were made with a view to incite communal riots in 
Uttar Pradesh and with the elections in mind," said Ramji Lal Suman of the 
opposition Samajwadi Party. 

Congress lawmaker Jaipal Reddy said the prime minister should clarify his 
statements and tell parliament with which groups he had held talks." 

"There's no possibility of the talks being successful," Reddy added. 

Hindu revivalists say Muslim Moghul emperor Babur tore down a temple at the 
place they believe was the birthplace of Ram. Muslims contest this and the 
fate of the site is caught in a legal tangle. 

Opposition deputies said the prime minister should not have commented on such 
an explosive issue outside parliament but Vajpayee told the lower house he 
had done nothing wrong. 

"I just said I hoped the issue of Ayodhya was sorted out before March. Talks 
are going on. It's not in the national interest to say at this stage with 
whom the talks are going on. When the solution emerges, we'll let the house 
know," he said. 

Vajpayee, widely seen as a moderate in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata 
Party, triggered a political storm last year when he said efforts to build a 
temple at Ayodhya reflected national sentiment. 

 

Indian Hindus, Christians seek to end differences
  
NEW DELHI, Aug 22 (Reuters) - Leaders of India's Christian and Hindu 
communities held their first meeting in nearly three years to try to resolve 
differences over religious conversions that have left a trail of violence 
across the country. 

Christians, who make up just over two percent of India's mainly Hindu 
population, have faced a spate of attacks by suspected hardline Hindu groups 
who accuse missionaries of carrying out forced conversions. 

A spokesman of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India said on Wednesday its 
talks with the powerful Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) 
were aimed at ending misunderstanding. 

"Christians feel that the RSS is wrongly accusing them of carrying out 
conversions either by force or through fraudulent means," Father Dominic 
Emmanuel, spokesman of the CBCI, said. 

Emmanuel told Reuters the RSS delegation, headed by General Secretary K. 
Sudarshan, in turn had said the organisation had been wrongly blamed for 
attacks on minorities. 

He quoted Sudarshan as saying at the meeting on Tuesday that Hinduism taught 
tolerance, and that India had accepted people belonging to different 
religions. 

The RSS, or the National Volunteers Corps, is widely seen as the ideological 
mentor of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party. 

The RSS denies any bias against minority Muslims or Christians. 

Vajpayee himself drew flak from political rivals and the church for saying 
last weekend that conversions appeared to be a motive for some missionaries 
engaged in social work across India. 

Tensions reached a peak in late 1998 and early 1999 when prayer halls were 
torched in the BJP-ruled western state of Gujarat and an Australian 
missionary and his two young sons were burnt to death in their car in the 
eastern state of Orissa. 

Emmanuel said community leaders had first met in 1998, but a subsequent 
outbreak of religious violence prevented any progress. 

"The dialogue has been re-started. We have agreed to meet again," he said. 

Criticism of Indian Christians Raises New Concerns about Violence

by T.C.Malhotra ("CNS News," August 22, 2001)

New Delhi (CNSNews.com) - A potentially explosive row is simmering here, 
after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee criticized the activities of 
Christian missionaries in India.

Political parties and Christian missionaries have expressed concern over 
Vajpayee's weekend statement accusing some Christian missionaries of trying 
to force people to convert to their faith.

The All India Christian Council called the remark unfortunate, saying it 
would aggravate violence against minorities.

"Remarks such as these are seen as condoning the hate campaign and the 
canards, lies and half-truths that are being spread in many parts of the 
country. They encourage communal and extremist elements," the Council said in 
a statement.

The remarks also raised concerns in the political establishment, with the 
main opposition Congress Party accusing Vajpayee of "casting aspersions at 
the Christian community."

"The remarks have the potential of creating a sense of insecurity among the 
minority community," said Congress spokesman Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi.

Vajpayee made his comment at a function of a fundamentalist Hindu 
organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS), in which he served as a 
volunteer for many years.

While some Christian missionaries were engaged in good work, he said, others 
were converting Hindus.

Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys mass support of Hindu voters, 
primarily marshaled by the RSS. In recent times, the government has been 
under fire from the RSS for its reformist economic policies.

Observers saw the prime minister's as an attempt to reassure the RSS that the 
ruling party was not deviating from pro-Hindu policies.

The RSS welcomed Vajpayee's statement as an endorsement of its view that 
forcible Christian conversations were being carried out.

Hindu fundamentalists maintain that Christians are involved in "forced 
conversions" of poor Hindus, even though there are no independent figures to 
substantiate the claim. They charge that more than 200,000 of the 22.5 
million Christians are converts from Hindu.

Many missionaries run schools, dispensaries and old age homes in poor areas 
of India. Hindu organizations like the RSS and the World Hindu Council accuse 
some missionaries of luring poor Hindus into Christianity by offering them 
money, food, jobs and other incentives.

Christians fear the sentiment may result in more violence against their 
community. Among other incidents in recent years, an Australian missionary 
and his two sons, aged 7 and 10, were burnt to death five years ago while 
they slept in their vehicle in the eastern province of Orissa.

Their killers doused the vehicle with petrol, lit it and then prevented a 
handful of locals from trying to rescue the trapped trio.

Until his death, Graham Staines had been working with leprosy patients for 32 
years.

Right to religion is a fundamental right under the Indian constitution, which 
confers upon every citizen the right to practice his or her own religion.

However, the issue of conversion has been a topic of lengthy public debate in 
India with some quarters suggesting that it should be constitutionally banned.

RSS spokesman in New Delhi, M.G. Vaidya, said while the organization backed 
Vajpayee's statement, they did not believe it had been intended to cover all 
missionaries.

"It is wrong to say that the prime minister has tarred every missionary with 
the same brush. There are some missionaries who are doing sincere work, and 
they need not worry about the impact of his statement," Vaidya said. 


 

Christian Converts Forced to Return to Hinduism in India

by Abhijeet Prabhu ("Compass Direct Service," August 22, 2001)

BANGALORE, India (Compass) -- Nineteen villagers who recently embraced 
Christianity have been forced to re-convert to Hinduism in the Korua village 
of Kendrapada district in India's Orissa state after undergoing sustained 
social ostracism from their fellow villagers. They are also facing 
prosecution by the district administration for violating provisions of the 
Orissa Freedom of Religion Act (OFRA). 

At the re-conversion ceremony, which took place on the evening of July 26, 
the villagers were forced to undergo the ritual of "shuddhikaran" (cleansing 
ceremony) and to pay obeisance to the village deity. The villagers have also 
been ordered to visit the shrine of Puri to fulfill added rituals necessary 
for returning to the Hindu religion, official sources said. 

While one of the converts earlier admitted that there was no other 
alternative but to return to Hinduism if they were to survive, others 
maintained that they took the step voluntarily with the help of their fellow 
villagers. 

Meanwhile, the Kendrapara district administration has started preparing a 
prosecution report against the 19 converts on charges of violating provisions 
of the OFRA, which makes it mandatory for people who want to change their 
religion to inform the district magistrate, who will then have the matter 
examined by police. 

While the police claim that the villagers failed to inform the authorities of 
their desire to convert to Christianity, the All India Christian Council 
(AICC) has maintained that the police were informed. 

The AICC statement alleges that the police have used the Freedom of Religion 
Act selectively against the Christians but not against the Hindu 
fundamentalists who forced them to re-convert. Ironically, conversion from 
Christianity to Hinduism is exempted from the bill. The AICC has also accused 
the district administration of tacitly supporting the re-conversions. 

In February, the Orissa police invoked the same act to prevent a family of 
six tribals from becoming Christians. The Rev. Rameswar Mundu, pastor of a 
local church, was asked by the police to desist from baptizing Karuna Singh 
and five members of his family in Jamabani village for allegedly not 
obtaining the required permit. 

The re-conversion incident took place not far from the area where Australian 
missionary Graham Staines and his family ministered. Staines and his two sons 
were burned alive by Hindu extremists in January 1999. 

Due to periodic delays, only 15 of the 117 witnesses have so far been 
examined in the murder trial of Dara Singh, the prime suspect in the Staines' 
murder. District Judge Mahendranath Patnaik, who is presiding over the case, 
says he cannot prevent the case from being delayed by "some pretext or the 
other." He adjourned the trial until September 3 after a lawyer for two of 
the accused said that they were sick, giving no explanation of their 
illnesses. 

Earlier the judge had said that "no fake illnesses" would be tolerated when 
he postponed the case in July because of the defendant's illnesses. However, 
when Prosecutor Sudhakar Rao urged the court to schedule more hearing days so 
the trial could continue speedily, the judge responded, "What can I do if the 
trial is not being allowed to proceed on some pretext or the other?"

Kashmir women given veil ultimatum

by Altaf Hussain ("BBC News," August 20, 2001)

A little-known militant group in Indian-administered Kashmir has issued a 
fresh warning to women to wear a full veil. 

Lashkar-e-Jabbar has threatened to take action against any woman found 
without a veil after 1 September. 

Most women don't wear the full burqa.

The warning comes despite the fact that other militant groups have condemned 
the use of force against women who do not conform to Islamic dress code. 

Earlier this month, Lashkar-e-Jabbar claimed responsibility for two incidents 
in which acid was thrown at women in downtown Srinagar who were not wearing a 
"burqa" or full veil. 

This brought strong criticism from religious leaders, including the head of 
Jamat-I-Islami, Ghulam Mohammad Bhat, who said Islam did not approve of 
coercion in matters of religion. 

Ordinary people felt relieved after prominent militant groups, including the 
Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Toyeba dissociated themselves from the burqa 
campaign. 

Schools guarded 

But Lashkar-e-Jabbar appears to be defiant. It says it has evolved a new 
strategy to enforce the Islamic dress code among women, but has not given 
details. 

Police stepped up patrols after the acid attacks in Srinagar and dozens of 
armed women officers have been guarding girls' schools and colleges. 

On several occasions over the past decade, Muslim militants have used force 
to bring about changes in society. 

Girls wearing tight trousers were shot in the legs. Similar attacks were made 
on cable television operators. 

At one time, the militants also banned the wearing of jeans by men. 

But each time the impact of such campaigns has been short-lived. 

India, Pak violating religious freedom: US Commission

(Rediff, August 18, 2001)

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom has dubbed India and 
Pakistan as countries where 'grave violations' of religious freedom persist 
necessitating close monitoring of events. 
In a letter to Secretary of State Collin Powell on Thursday, the commission 
said grave violations of religious freedom continued in India, Pakistan, 
Uzbekistan and Vietnam like the previous year and called upon the state 
department to closely monitor events in those countries. 

But unlike China and eight other countries, which were termed 'countries of 
particular concern', the commission did not specify reasons for labelling 
India in the slot. 

Citing increase in violations of religious freedom in China and Sudan during 
the past year, the commission dubbed them along with seven other countries as 
the 'world's worst religious freedom violators' for US action under the 
'international religious freedom act'. 

The commission criticised China for the crackdown on the Falun Gong group and 
the arrest of 35 members of the Roman Catholic church, while in Sudan it 
found that religion and religious freedom violations were intertwined with 
other human rights and humanitarian abuses. 

Bombay's missionary schools protest assault on priest

by Shiv Kumar ("Rediff," August 13, 2001)

Educational institutions run by the minority Catholic community in Bombay 
were shut on Monday in protest against the assault on a priest last week. 

Activists of the Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the right-wing Vishwa Hindu 
Parishad, are alleged to have staged the attack on Father Oscar Mendonca at 
Thane. 

Police said the miscreants beat up the priest after they mistook his church 
for a Baptist mission. 

The activists had earlier held a meeting to condemn the murder of four cadres 
of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, to which the Bajrang Dal is affiliated, 
in the northeast two years ago. The RSS claims that its cadres were murdered 
at the behest of the Baptists. 

As ordered by Cardinal Ivan Dias, the spiritual head of the Catholics in the 
city, students assembled in their schools for a brief prayer of atonement and 
then dispersed without any classes being held. 

Individual Catholics were also advised to wear black badges at work on Monday 
to express solidarity with the assaulted priest. 

The Cardinal addressed a rally on Sunday evening at Thane's St John's Baptist 
Church where Mendonca was assaulted. He, however, cautioned Catholics against 
retaliating and urged the community to forgive the assailants. The Cardinal 
said the attack was not only aimed at disrupting communal harmony in the 
city, but was a grave violation of human rights. 

Kashmir violence surges before India anniversary

By Sheikh Mushtaq
  

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Grenade attacks and gun battles in 
disputed Kashmir were reported on Sunday to have killed 29 people before 
India's Independence Day this week. 

Pakistan-based guerrillas fighting Indian rule in the Himalayan territory 
said they had killed 18 Indian soldiers in a pre-dawn attack on an army camp 
in the north of the region. 

There was no Indian confirmation of Saturday's incident, which would be the 
deadliest guerrilla attack in the area since an incursion two years ago that 
brought nuclear-capable neighbours India and Pakistan to the brink of war. 

The Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group said in a statement that dozens more Indian 
soldiers were wounded in the attack in the Bunial sector of the strategic 
Kargil heights region. 

In other violence, 11 people including seven rebels and an Indian soldier 
were killed. 

Thousands of Indian troops have thrown a tight security cordon across the 
Himalayan region before Independence Day on Wednesday, whose celebrations 
rebels have targeted in the past. 

An Indian soldier was killed and 15 people were wounded in a grenade 
explosion on Sunday near a crowded bus station at Kupwara town, some 90 km 
(55 miles) northwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. 

In separate gun battles Indian security forces shot dead four militants in 
north Kashmir, a police statement said. 

Elsewhere three militants and three civilians have been killed in different 
shootouts in the troubled region since Saturday night, the statement said. 

Security has also been tightened in New Delhi where police were quoted as 
saying that Kashmiri rebels could target government leaders including Prime 
Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee in suicide attacks around Independence Day. 

STRIKE ON INDEPENDENCE DAY 

Kashmir's main separatist alliance has called a general strike for Wednesday, 
when India marks the 54th anniversary of its independence from Britain. 

The All Parties Hurriyat (freedom) Conference said the strike was meant as a 
reminder to the world of the Kashmir freedom struggle. 

"Those who have no regard for the aspirations of others, have no right to 
celebrate their freedom," a Hurriyat statement made available to Reuters on 
Sunday said. 

The Hurriyat bands nearly two dozen social, political and religious groups 
seeking self-determination for Muslim-majority Kashmir. 

Muslim rebels have condemned an acid attack on two women in Kashmir last week 
that was allegedly provoked by a breach of an Islamic dress code, newspapers 
in the turbulent region said. 

The separatists blamed the incident on Indian agents seeking to discredit 
their struggle. 

Police say Muslim guerrillas were behind the attack in which the women, who 
were not wearing veils, were sprayed with acid on a busy street in Srinagar. 
They have since left hospital. 

Newspapers in Srinagar on Sunday quoted three major militant groups -- Hizbul 
Mujahideen, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen -- denying involvement 
in the attack. 

More than 30,000 people have died since the revolt in Jammu and Kashmir, 
India's only Muslim-majority state, began in 1989. 

Pakistan denies Indian charges that it backs the revolt but seeks 
self-determination for the Kashmiri people. 

Violence has surged across the Kashmir Valley since a summit between the 
leaders of India and Pakistan last month failed to break the deadlock over 
the dispute. 

Sikh clergy fight aborting girl foetuses
  

CHANDIGARH, India, Aug 11 (Reuters) - Sikh priests launched a campaign on 
Saturday against the increasingly widespread practice in India of aborting 
girl babies in the womb. 

With modern medicine allowing parents to learn the sex of unborn children, 
some Indian families -- traditionally anxious for sons -- are resorting to 
abortion for female foetuses. This year's census showed a sharp drop in the 
number of girls born. 

Some 250 priests gathered at a Sikh shrine in Fatehgarh Sahib in Punjab to 
raise awareness against the practice known as female foeticide. The northern 
states of Haryana and Punjab, heartland of the minority Sikh religion, have 
recorded particularly sharp declines in the proportion of female births. 

"We will use the services of priests at various gurudwaras to take the 
message against female foeticide to the grassroots," said Manjit Singh, the 
religious head of Anandpur Sahib temple where the Sikh religion was born. A 
gurudwara is a Sikh temple. 

India's population touched 1,027 million in the census ending in March. But 
for every 1,000 boys up to the age of six, the census showed only 927 girls, 
down from 945 10 years ago. 

Demographers say the use of modern ultrasound imagery techniques to detect 
the sex of unborn babies is behind a sharp drop in the number of girls being 
born in Punjab and Haryana, two of India's most prosperous agrarian states. 

A 1994 ban on using medical tests to determine the sex of foetuses has proved 
hard to enforce. 

In Fatehgarh Sahib where the Sikh priests were meeting, the number of females 
was just 750 per 1,000 males, which a local news agency said was the lowest 
in Punjab. 

India's patriarchal society has traditionally preferred sons to daughters and 
the preference continues to be strong in the country's rural and semi-urban 
areas. 

The Indian Medical Association estimated in January that about five million 
female foetuses were aborted each year purely on the grounds that the 
children would be of the wrong sex.  

Hindu group says proselytisers can expect attacks
  

BOMBAY, Aug 10 (Reuters) - A militant Hindu group said on Friday recent 
attacks on Christian clerics and institutions in India were a reaction to 
conversions of Hindus, and warned that there would be more. 

Police blamed two groups, including the Bajrang Dal, an organisation 
affiliated to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee's Hindu nationalist 
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for an attack on a Catholic priest near Bombay 
earlier this week. 

"Conversions are the root cause of violence," Milind Parande, National 
Co-Convener of Bajrang Dal, told reporters on Friday. 

"If this continues there will be violence... they should expect it," he said, 
adding that the Bajrang Dal was not itself responsible for Monday's attack. 

On the same day in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, a nun survived after 
being shot at point-blank range. 

Christians, who account for just 2.3 percent of India's mainly-Hindu 
population of one billion, and Hindu revivalist groups have been at odds over 
the question of conversions in recent years. 

Tension reached a peak in late 1998-early 1999 when prayer halls were torched 
in the BJP-ruled western state of Gujarat and an Australian missionary and 
his two young sons were burnt to death in their car in the eastern state of 
Orissa. 

"The federal and state government should immediately stop conversions. The 
Hindu society will not take this lying down," Parande said. 

Cardinal Ivan Dias, the Catholic Archbishop of Bombay, condemned the attack 
on the priest as "senseless and barbaric" and asked all Catholic Schools in 
the city's archdiocese to close on Monday as a mark of protest. 

In a statement the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India quoted its secretary 
general, Archbishop Oswald Gracias of Agra, as saying the latest incidents 
were cause for serious concern. 

"I was beginning to think that attacks on Christians were becoming a thing of 
the past, but these attacks on the same day in two different states have sent 
distressing signals to the Christian community in the country," he said. 

Kashmir group demands probe into massacre of Hindus

SRINAGAR, India, Aug 5 (Reuters) - Kashmir's main separatist alliance has 
demanded a probe by an international human rights group into Saturday's 
massacre of 17 Hindu villagers in the strife-torn Himalayan region. 

Indian authorities say suspected separatist Muslim guerrillas are believed to 
have killed 17 Hindu villagers on Saturday in the restive state's Doda 
district. 

The killers abducted 20 Hindus from the town of Atholi and took them to a 
remote area before shooting them. 

"We can not sleep over such unfortunate incidents. We have been demanding 
probe in various massacres by impartial international human rights groups. We 
demand similar probe in this incident," a statement of the All Parties 
Hurriyat (Freedom) Conference said. 

The statement was released late on Saturday evening. 

Indian officials say militants of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group 
could be behind the attack as they are active in the area. 

The Lashkar-e-Taiba issued a statement in the Pakistan-controlled side of 
Kashmir denying their involvement in the massacre. 

"It is the handiwork of criminals. We demand a probe through independent 
agency like Amnesty international. There is no scope for such misadventures 
in Islam," Syed Ali Shah Geelani said. 

Geelani is a former chairman of Hurriyat which bands nearly two dozen social, 
political and religious groups in Kashmir. 

Violence has escalated in the Himalayan region since a summit last month 
between India and Pakistan failed to produce concrete results. 

Nearly 150 people, mostly rebels, have been killed since the summit ended. 
India, which controls 45 percent of Kashmir, accuses Pakistan of arming and 
aiding Muslim separatists in the Muslim-majority state. 

Pakistan, which rules just over a third of the territory, denies this and 
says it gives them only moral and diplomatic support. 

Authorities say more than 30,000 people have been killed in the revolt 
against Indian rule which began in late 1989. 

Separatists put the toll closer to 80,000.  

Indian Spiritual Leader Visits N.Y.

By DUNSTAN PRIAL

The Associated Press (July 11)

NEW YORK (AP) - Hundreds of people lined up at a college auditorium to get a 

hug from an Indian spiritual leader whose followers say they feel uplifted 
when they embrace her. 

Mata Amritanandamayi, also known as ``Amma,'' or mother, has been known to 
spend as many as 20 hours hugging attendees at her services. 

She is appearing through Wednesday at Columbia University in upper Manhattan 
as part of a 10-week U.S. tour. 

The audience Monday night at Columbia included a broad mix: college students, 

young couples with small children in tow, and a smattering of older 

followers. 

``I can't explain whether it's her individual energy or an energy within the 

group,'' said Zack Kurland, 28, of New York. ``It's an uplifting feeling.'' 

Amritanandamayi was born in the Kerala state of India in 1953. She was 
removed from school at a young age to look after her family and soon began 
watching over others in her village. 

She began her spiritual endeavors as a young woman, encouraging others to 
social service and to express love for others. Later she started a program in 

which people could go to her and receive her blessing - a hug, or darshan. 

After two and a half hours of songs, chants and meditations on Monday, 
Amritanandamayi, seated in the center of a large stage, received her 
devotees. As they approached, the followers fell to their knees and patiently 
waited their turn. 

She greeted each with a warm smile and outstretched arms. Each darshan 
resembled an embrace between two old friends who hadn't seen each other in 
years. Most hugs included a kiss on the cheek, an encouraging whisper in the 
ear, and loving caresses on the back and arms. 

Devotees followed an honor system under which those who had never 
participated in a darshan were allowed to move to the front of the line. 

Organizers said more than 750 people received tokens that allowed them to 
climb on stage and receive a hug. 

In 1993, Amritanandamayi served as president of the Centenary Parliament of 
World Religions in Chicago. In 1995, she was a speaker at the United Nations' 
50th anniversary commemoration. 

Caroline Finnegan, 24, a New Yorker at her first Amritanandamayi service, 
said she was looking forward to what she had heard was a ``powerful and 
loving experience.'' 

``We don't really have too many of those in Manhattan,'' Finnegan said. 

On the Net: 

Ammachi: http://www.ammachi.org/