Here in Bhubaneshwar, India, Christians like these two are helping Christians flee extremist Hindus. - Henrik Due Jensen
"THERE IS A LOT of evil in the world," says Sister Deresilla of Mother Teresa's order, the Sisters of Mercy, as she shows me around the mission station just outside Bhubaneshwar, the capital of the Indian state of Orissa.
Darkness has fallen and I stand among a group of refugees who are eating their evening meal. They have been fleeing extremist Hindus who have ravaged their villages and churches in Kandhamal, Orissa. This was the very area I had visited the day before to see and hear more about the serious human rights violations that still plague the area.
WHEN GOING TO Kandhamal, you have to be patient. After informing the authorities, we drive into the restricted area. It's a four-wheel drive on narrow and potholed roads. It's a partially mountainous area we have to pass through.
The Kandhamal area has been characterized by intense persecution and human rights violations over the past year. At Christmas 2007, nearly 100 churches and 730 houses belonging to Christians were destroyed and burnt down by Hindu fundamentalists. And after a renowned Hindu leader, Laxmanananda, was murdered by Maoists on August 23, 2008, the persecution began again because the extremists falsely accused Christians of being behind the killing. Many Christians were hunted down by angry Hindu extremists and the whole situation has sent 50,000 people to refugee camps. When I visited the country in December 2008, many people still did not trust the authorities to protect them.
After a seven-hour drive from Bhubaneshwar, I reach Bominigoam village in Kandhamal, Orissa. A group of men from the local Catholic church greet me kindly. We enter their vandalized church, which was attacked in December 2007.
"The fundamentalists took the church's Bibles, songbooks, pulpit and furniture and set it all on fire in the middle of the church. After everything was burnt, they slaughtered a goat and swore that they would kill all the Christians," says Pastor Harish Chandra Arisalya of the All India Christian Council.
ACCORDING TO PASTOR HARISH, the innocent victims are the Christians. In all the reports from the area, you can see that it is the Christians' houses that are being destroyed, not the houses of the other denominations. It is the churches and not the Hindu temples that are affected. At the same time, there is economic exploitation of natural resources by rich businessmen who come from outside and sell their goods in the big markets, while the local population remains poor. The Kandhamal people are a low-caste people and they are economically weak - they do not have the means to start their own business. According to the local pastor, the rich want to maintain the tradition of the untouchables, many of whom are Christians, to serve them. He is also concerned that it is the Christian women who are being raped and the Christian priests who are being killed at this time. He calls the incidents in Orissa 'grave violations of human rights' and reminds me that India is a signatory to the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Back in Bhubaneshwar at the mission station, a nun is caring for the victims of this persecution. The many refugee children and their parents seem happy to be here on site. Kalpana Digal, a young mother of three, tells me how she and her husband and children have fled their village in Kandhamal district. They refuse to convert to Hinduism and that would be the only way they could come back. They want to stay true to their own religion and remain Christians.
There is an incredible sense of compassion for the Christians who have been sent on the run. One can only hope that this mission station will be left untouched by the extremists who have sworn to exterminate the Christians.