Hindu hardliners attack Christian Missionaries in India
Pakistan Times Foreign Desk Report

COCHIN (India): Suspected Hindu hardliners used iron rods to attack a group of Christian missionaries distributing food to poor lower-caste villagers in southern India, injuring all seven and their two drivers, police said Sunday.

The victims, including three nuns, were hospitalized with head injuries after the attack Saturday by a group of 25 people on the outskirts of Calicut, a city 370 kilometers (230 miles) north of Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala state, said H. Venkatesh, the city police commissioner.

All of the injured were locals except for a visiting Kenyan missionary, Venkatesh said.

Arrests

Police arrested 15 suspects Sunday and were checking their political affiliations, he said.

Paul Thelakat, a spokesman for the Roman Catholic Church in Kerala state, said he suspected the attack was carried out by Hindu nationalists belonging to the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] and its parent organization, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh [RSS].

The attackers shouted 'Long Live the BJP' and 'Long live the RSS,' Thelkat said. The BJP denied the charge.

'The BJP and the RSS are being targeted in the incident for political gains,» P.S. Sreedharan Pillai, the state BJP president, told reporters in Trivandrum.

Protest Meetings

Christian groups held meetings in major cities and towns across the state to protest the attack. Anti-Christian sentiment rose in India during the six-year national rule of the BJP, which ended in May.

Hindu hard-liners accuse Christian missionaries of converting poor Hindus by offering money, a charge denied by Christian organizations.

Christians constitute about 2 percent of India's more than 1 billion people. Hindus account for more than 80 percent and Muslims 13 percent.●