Bangalore: In the past year, Christians in India counted 135 anti-Christian attacks and most of them were in the BJP-ruled Karnataka state, says a report released to remember the gruesome murder of an Australian missioner 14 years ago.
The report of the Global Council of Indian Christians" (GCIC) was released on Jan. 23, a day observed as "Day of Martyrs" by some Christian groups to perpetuate the memory of Protestant Pastor Graham Staines and his two sons, who were burnt alive by Hindu extremists on that day in 1999.
According to the report presented by Methodist Bishop Sampath Kumar most cases of attacks were reported from Karnataka with 41 cases of attacks.
Orissa followed it with 16, and the others in line were Tamil Nadu with 15 cases and Madhya Pradesh 14.
In Chhattisgarh there are seven incidents of attacks, while Kashmir and Kerala recorded five each incidents.
The bishop while releasing the report said, "the blood of martyrs is the seed of Christian faith" according to Christian tradition and Christian believe those who were killed for faith are "today in the presence of the Lord."
"The persecution allows us to participate in the sufferings of Christ; secondly, to lead a purified life; thirdly, to proclaim the Gospel of Christ," he said.
Some 600 Christian leaders from different parts of India gathered in Bangalore to remember the murdered protestant pastor.
Many of them reported testimonies of persecuted Christians and details of attacks against Christian communities.
On the night between Jan. 22-23, 1999, Hindu extremists set fire to the vehicle in which Staines and his sons Philip, 9, and Timothy, 7, were asleep in the village of Manoharpur in Keonjhar District of Orissa.
In 2006, his widow Gladys and her surviving daughter, Esther, came back to live in Orissa. She said she forgave Dara Singh, the man responsible for the murders.
source: ucanews