AntiChristian

PHULBANI: Acting on a public interest petition filed by the Utkal Christian Council, a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice B.N. Mohapatra has asked the State government to deploy paramilitary forces at the relief camps where thousands of riot-affected Christian families have taken shelter.
The Court also directed the Kandhamal police to ensure immediate registration of cases at different police stations on the complaints filed by affected families living in relief camps and other places. The Superintendent of Police of Kandhamal was further directed to take stringent action against any policeman found sympathising with the rioters.
In Kandhamal, official sources said daytime curfew was reimposed in the nine towns as the administration apprehended a backlash in the wake of the arrest of local leaders. The towns include Phulbani, G. Udaygiri, Tikabali, Raikia, Tumudibandha, K. Nuagaon, Gochhapada, Phiringia and Baliguda. Night curfew was already in force in these towns since long.
In fact, over 200 people were arrested in the district since communal violence broke out after the killing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Swami Lakshmanananda last month. But arrest of prominent local leaders started only after Tuesday’s attack in G. Udaygiri area.
At least 45 persons were taken into custody from G. Udaygiri, Phulbani and others areas. General secretary of Kandhamal District unit of the BJP Bhagaban Mohanty was among them.
The administration had also asked the licensed gun holders in the district to surrender their weapons.
Life was paralysed in the areas where curfew remained in force during the day. Top district officials advised media persons not to visit interior areas in communally sensitive pockets. “We are apprehending trouble in some areas,” District Collector Krishan Kumar said.
Director-General of Police Manmohan Praharaj reached Phulbani on Wednesday evening to take stock of the law and order situation.Christians seek refugee status
Special Correspondent writes from New Delhi:
Accusing the Centre of failing to protect the minorities, 100 Christians from the Kandhamal district of Orissa approached the United Nations here on Wednesday seeking refugee status for the community. Led by civil rights activists, a delegation submitted a memorandum to U.N. officials.
Holding placards stating “Government of India has failed to protect its minorities,” the group said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees should declare “Oriya Christians” as refugees and bring them under the legal framework to protect their human dignity from rights violations and abuse.
“Currently, they along with tens of thousands, are a stateless people as the writ of the Government of India does not run in the State of Orissa. There is no rule of law and ‘mobocracy’ by Hindutva terror outfits like the RSS, the VHP and the Bajrang Dal is the political system which is in place. The Prime Minister has not visited Orissa and earlier, even the Home Minister of India could not visit the victims.”
According to the memorandum, these Oriya Christians fulfil the requirements as per U.N. conventions to be ‘Internally Displaced Persons’. Seeking relief from U.N. agencies and the International Red Cross, it said the community would either be killed by “Hindu extremists” or die of malnourishment if no attention was paid immediately.
Stating that the Orissa government had prevented Christian NGOs from working in the affected areas, the memorandum questioned the Centre’s refusal to use its constitutional powers. Also, the delegation urged the international community to mount pressure on India to fulfil its obligations under the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which it ratified in 1948.