("AsiaNews," February 8, 2007)
Mumbai, India ¨C Four Christian missionary
women were badly beaten by Hindu extremists
in the northern Indian state of Haryana. Two
clergymen were also hurt in the February 4 attack
by Sangh Parivar activists. All the victims
belonged to Gospel for Asia, which reported
the incident.
Open attacks like this one against women are
quite rare. K.P. Yohannan, founder and president
of Gospel for Asia, told Assist News Service,
that ¡°Hindu religious fundamentalists
have been making every possible attempt to stop
all Christian work in this state for some time,
these fundamentalists routinely target Christians,
and now they are even attacking women.¡±
The four missionary women¡ªVanmala,
Lata, Udaya and Ramita¡ªwere working
in the area for about a year. Four days ago
Hindu fundamentalists met them and told them
to vacate immediately the house in which they
were staying and call their supervising pastors,
who came right away to the home.
The women and the pastors were still inside
the building when hundreds of people surrounded
the house.
A group of the fundamentalists broke into the
house and attacked the women and the two pastors
who had come to their assistance.
One of the attackers, a policeman, used his
police stick against the women; others slapped
and kicked them.
When the attackers left, the women sought refuge
at a nearby Gospel for Asia-affiliated church.
Gospel for Asia officials have not filed any
formal complaint for the time being, but they
did inform the local Superintendent of Police.
The Sangh Par¨©v¨¡r is a
network of Hindu organisations that share the
same Hindutva or Hindu nationalist ideology
whose raison d¡¯¨ºtre is
the protection of India¡¯s Hindu
identity.
