Anti Christian Violence Rocks Orissa, India

(26 August 08-RV) Tensions are still high in the Eastern Indian state of Orissa where Hindu extremists are being encouraged by their leaders to target Christians in revenge attacks for the murder this weekend of radical Hindu leader Swami.

Police say Maoist rebels are responsible for his death and local Christians have condemned his murder, but this has done little to calm marauding Hindu bands.

In the worst episodes yesterday a Catholic nun was burnt alive by a group of fundamentalists who stormed the orphanage she ran in the district of Bargarh. A priest who was at the orphanage was also badly hurt and is now being treated in hospital for multiple burns, while the children were driven away.

Another nun from Bubaneshwar’s Social Centre in the Archdiocese was gang raped before the building was set on fire. One other priest has been hospitalised two others are still missing.

The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has planned further demonstrations for today.

Archbishop of Cuttack-Bubaneshwar, Raphael Cheenath, warns that this spate of violence is far worse than previous violence of dec 2007, because this time Hindu nationalists are targeting people not properties.