Christmas at UTC with Widows Of Orissa Violence

INDIA  Widows Of Orissa Violence Brought Across Country For Christmas Celebration

BANGALORE, India (UCAN) -- A Christian group here organized an advance Christmas celebration for some women widowed during anti-Christian violence in the eastern Indian state of Orissa.

Asmitha Digal is among 24 widows who lost husbands in the anti-Christian Orissa violence in India, taking part in Christmas celebration in Bangalore on Dec. 8.

"We have lost our husbands to a hate campaign, yet we believe that only love and forgiveness can bring peace in society," asserted Kadamphul Nayak, widow of Pastor Samuel Nayak.

She was among 24 widows and two children who traveled 1,400 kilometers from Orissa to the southern Indian city of Bangalore to attend the Dec. 8 celebration. The ecumenical Global Council of Indian Christians, which is based in the city and organized the event, is involved in rehabilitation work for the Orissa victims.

About 150 people from various Churches joined the celebrations held at Protestant-run United Theological College in Bangalore, 2,060 kilometers south of New Delhi. They sang together hymns of praise and joy.

The Churches and their institutions gave the guests pots and other household items, clothes and sweets. They also shared a Christmas cake, and sang Christmas carols. Some of the Orissa visitors performed a tribal dance depicting the birth of Jesus.

Retired Methodist Bishop Sampath Kumar told UCA News the faith of the simple women amazed him and made the event the most meaningful celebration in his life. "We celebrate Christmas in our fullness, but they celebrated it in an utter hopeless situation," he remarked.  more

High profiled Terror

Counter Terror

Bajrang Dal. VHP. Abhinav Bharat. The names of ultra right-wing outfits are increasingly cropping up as investigators wake up to a new form of terror. RANA AYYUB tracks the dangerous trend

The Nanded blast of April 6, 2006, was the first to open up a glimpse into the activities of the country’s saffron terror modules. It took place at the residence of RSS worker Lakshman Rajkondwar, a retired irrigation department engineer, and was apparently an accident, occurring during the preparation of bombs meant to be placed outside a mosque in Aurangabad after Friday prayers. The accident had, importantly, been fuelled by a need to uphold ‘Hindu’ honour. The aim, then, was to avenge the 2005 blasts in Delhi and the 2006 blast in Varanasi, by engineering explosions in Muslim-dominated areas in central Maharashtra and killing at least 300 to 400 Muslims in each incident. This was also the intention of the blasts at Parbhani, Jalna and Purna, all of which occurred outside mosques between 1.30 and 2 in the afternoon, to ensure as many casualties as possible.  

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Gujarat police protecting Terrorists

Congress: Modi’s stance disturbing

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Monday condemned the Gujarat government’s refusal to cooperate with the investigations being conducted into the Malegaon blasts by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS).

Reacting to reports of Gujarat police stopping ATS from picking up a suspect, party spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said, “This clearly exposes the double standards and hypocrisy of the Bharatiya Janata Party.”

Further, according to her, it showed a total lack of commitment – especially Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi – in fighting terror.  

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Stating that the Central and State governments were taking all measures to combat terrorism, Ms. Natarajan said the Modi government’s stance was disturbing.

“Those suspected in terror attacks should be interrogated and punished, and there cannot be different standards for those close to the BJP and others.”

The Congress also expressed shock at the manner in which Madhya Pradesh Tourism Minister Tukoji Rao Pawar “insulted” the Returning Officer for Sonkatch Assembly segment in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.

Asghar Ali Engineer: And Now Hindu Terrorists?

And Now Hindu Terrorists?

By Asghar Ali Engineer

03 November, 2008
TwoCircles.net

Muslims for long had been objecting to the term Islamic terrorists and when the term Hindu terrorists was used by a section of the media the Sangh Parivar members protested how can one use the term 'Hindu Terrorists? The first to object to this term was Mr. Ram Madhav of RSS told The Asian Age "There is no such thing as Hindu terror at all. It is an orchestrated campaign to protect the real terrorists." Also when asked about the Sadhvi Pragya's arrest, he immediately tried to distance RSS from her. The "involvement of individuals, he said, "had nothing to do with any Hindu organization."

Similarly Mr. Advani, the opposition leader, also distanced BJP and RSS from the Sadhvi. He claimed he had no knowledge as to who Pragya was till now. Advani told Times of India that it seemed obvious that she would have parted ways with the pariwar outfits because her thoughts and methods did not match with those propagated by the organizations which she may have belonged to. This was reason enough for her to move out of them."  more