India: Eighth anniversary of Kandhamal violence

On 24 August 2016 International Christian Concern (ICC) and India"s Christian community marked the eighth anniversary of the 2008 anti-Christian Orissa riots, widely considered to be the worst incident of Christian persecution in India"s independent history. On 24 August 2008, anti-Christian mob violence swept across the Kandhamal District of India"s Odisha State, then known as Orissa, after Christians were wrongly blamed for the assassination of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader. After three months of violence, more than 100 Christians were killed, many hacked to death by axes and machetes, and at least three Christian women were gang raped. Additionally, nearly 56,000 people were displaced and forced to flee into the forests as mobs burned down more than 5,600 houses and 300 churches and Christian institutions. Eight years later Christians in Orissa are still having to cope with the after-effects and pain. "[For] the Kandhamal Christians, most have lost their livelihood, their fields, and much remains to be done for them," Dr. John Dayal, a Christian human rights activist in India, told ICC. "A feeling of safety is still lacking in many areas [of Kandhamal] and many [Christians] are working as landless laborers in towns and cities across the country. They survive as refugees of a sort."

Rolf Zeegers, persecution analyst at WWR, adds: "What happened in Orissa in 2008 has not led to any improvements in the treatment of Christians in India. On the contrary, the level of impunity for those who attack Christians has risen even further. Though the riots in Kandhamal were exceptional with regard to their scale, general violence against Christians in India is rising. The Evangelical Fellowship of India"s report published on 16 August 2016 has shown this quite clearly in its survey of incidents occurring in the first six months of 2016."