Nirmala Carvalho

William Lee violated the rules of his tourist visa, which prohibits participation in religious events. He risks expulsion. Sajan K George, President of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): "The police acted to please the Hindu ultra-nationalist forces in the country. Only Christians suffer such treatment. "

Vincent Manoharan, a Dalit and founder of the National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), reacts to L.K. Advani, ex leader of India’s foremost Hindu ultranationalist party, who is touring India on an anti-corruption pilgrimage (yatra). For Manoharan, “Corruption cannot be limited to just illegal exchange of money and certain favours”.

A.K. Merchant, national administrator of the Baha'i community of India, highlights the themes that he will bring to the 25th international meeting for peace in Assisi, on 27 October. An interview with AsiaNews.

Activists of the Sangh Parivar (Hindu ultra-nationalist movement) attack and report the men to police as they prayed in their homes. Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, "police collusion." It is the 37th anti-Christian case since the beginning of year.

No reasons are given for the murder. After killing Rev Jiban Masi Munda, the assassin, Manamasi Tappo, fled. Villagers chased him and once they caught him, tied him to a tree and beat him to death. However, they told police that he committed suicide.

The place of worship was destroyed in 2008, during the pogrom against Christians that caused hundreds of dead. The local community had recovered materials to rebuild the building. The fundamentalists, with the connivance of police and government want to seize the land. Indian activist: government "sympathizes" with the extremist wing.

Shijo Kokkattu, a 30-year-old teacher, was betrayed by his colleagues because he accidentally left a picture of Our Lady and some Marian songs on a school computer. Islam is state religion in the Maldives, where there is no freedom of worship. For Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians, religious intolerance and injustice are the “worst form of persecution”.

Even though it is illegal, child labour plagues India, which has the highest number of working children under the age of 14. For Card Oswald Gracias, head of the Bishops’ Conference, education is the only weapon against child exploitation. However, the cost of education as well as substandard or no schools favour child labour. The Catholic Church plays a crucial role with 60 per cent of its schools providing free education in the country’s rural areas.

Fr Joseph D’Souza offers a blessing for dogs, Persian cats, parrots, a turtle and a rabbit, “true gifts of God”. Remembering Saint Francis, who “worked to widen further the fraternity that links humans and creatures”, he says that all creatures “are blessed in the eyes of the Lord”. Today, the liturgical memory of the Saint of Assisi is held today.

It happened in the districts of Hassan and Bangalore. Behind reports from Hindu extremists, local police accused the pastors of not having permission to worship and of practicing forced conversions. Since the beginning of 2011, 36 anti-Christian incidents in Karnataka. Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): "Reign of terror against the Christian minority continues."

Just after he was released after four years of imprisonment and torture, plainclothes agents stopped him, hooded him and took him away without a mandate. His lawyers were beaten when they intervened to stop the kidnapping. For Fr. Allwyn D'Silva, president of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Archdiocese of Mumbai, this shows "complete disregard by the state for human rights." Fr. Cedric Prakash, director of the Prashant Jesuit Centre for Human Rights, Justice and Peace: "He is innocent, and deserves justice."

One hundred activists of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS, a Hindu ultra-nationalist group) accused them of forced conversions, then led the police to arrest them. Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC): "No let up for Christians, the system is corrupt." Today in Orissa a march to commemorate the anti-Christian violence of 2008.