Orissa, killings and terror continue ahead of Christmas
 

(December 4, 2008) There is still widespread terror in the district of Kandhamal in Orissa, India where for months attacks and killings have continued against the Christians. The government of Orissa is forcing Christians to return to their villages, but is not guaranteeing them any security. In recent days, two Christian women have been killed in the district. They had returned to the village to try to harvest rice from their fields, hoping to provide food for their family. One of them, Bimala Nayak, 52, was hacked to death with axes and thrown into the forest. Her body was found in three pieces, outside the village of Gubria. She had left the refugee camp of Nuagaon to harvest the rice from her plot of land. The other, Lalita Digal, 45, was killed in Dodabali last November 25. on November 21 she had left the camp to return to the village and harvest the rice. She was staying with some Hindu friends. Witnesses say that the woman was taken away from the house where she was staying. Her body has not yet been found. Other episodes of violence have taken place in the village of Tiangia. The Global Council of Indian Christians is accusing the local government of being unable - and perhaps unwilling - to stop the violence. Sajan George, the president of the GCIC, says that "fear still lurks in the Christian community in Kandhamal, and as Christmas approaches, they are traumatised not only by the memory of the anti-Christian violence last December.