Kashmir chief minister takes up Dutch missionary’s case
(July 26, 2010) The chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir state, Omar Abdullah has
sought to reassure the local Catholic bishop over the future of a Dutch missionary
facing expulsion from India. A state Foreigners Registration Office directive on
June 26 ordered Mill Hill missionary priest Fr. Jim Borst to leave India by the end
of July. Bishop Peter Celestine Elampassery of Jammu-Srinagar, who met Abdullah on
Thursday, said the chief minister was not aware of the order. The minister said
his office had not sanctioned it and he would investigate the matter, the Capuchin
prelate told Ucanews on Monday. He assured “us not to worry about it,” the bishop
added. Reports say the move against the priest was the result of his alleged attempts
to convert people to Catholicism in India’s only Muslim majority state, but Church
officials say the accusation is false. Father Borst, who has served in the state
since 1963, says the order was the result of a botched police investigation. The bishop,
who submitted a memorandum to Abdullah, said the government last year extended the
missionary’s visa till 2014. But the expulsion order overturned the visa. Vicar general
Father Varkey T. J. told Ucanews that the state Criminal Investigation Department
made Father Borst sign the expulsion order but did not give him a copy of it.