Karnataka Church denounces recurring attacks by Hindu extremists

(November 21, 2009) The Catholic Church in southern India’s Karnataka state has condemned recurrent attacks by Hindu extremists on youths from different religions socializing together. A statement issued on Friday by the Karnataka Regional Catholic Bishops' Council (KRCBC) asked, "Why can't boys and girls from different religious communities have healthy interaction?" The statement, signed by council secretary Father Faustine Lobo, "unequivocally" condemned "moral policing" by "fundamentalist outfits," which terrorize people in the state. The statement accused Karnataka government, led by pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, BJP, of "misguiding" the assailants to impose their own outdated moral principles on others. The party has governed the state since May 2008. Karnataka has witnessed 12 such attacks in the past year, eight of them reported from Mangalore, a major coastal town. In the latest incident on Nov. 15, a mob assaulted three Muslim youths travelling on a bus with two Hindu girls on their way to Mangalore for a sports selection camp. Meanwhile, the Global Council of Indian Christians has reported that the number of violent episodes against Christian places of worship in Karnataka, during 2009, has now risen to 56. Karnataka has close to 53 million people, and nearly 84 percent are Hindus. Muslims constitute about 12 percent, while Christians make up less than 2 percent.