Washington, Feb 20 (PTI) An Indian-American Christian group has voiced its concerns about the safety and security of Christians in India and urged President Donald Trump to meet the minority community members during his maiden trip to the country next week. President Trump will pay a state visit to India on February 24 and 25 at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "We fully agree with your policy of forging a strong bilateral relationship with India which is an emerging global power that shares the same core values of democratic principles," the Federation of Indian American Christian Organisations of North America or FIACONA wrote in a letter to Trump. However, members of the Indian Christian communities in the US, the FIACONA said, feel compelled to bring few issues of concerns about the safety and security of Christians in India to his attention. "Today, Christians across India are living in fear. Pastors, social workers, and ordinary Christians are arrested, tortured, or killed. Christian properties are burnt or destroyed by supporters" of the ruling party, it claimed. "We also urge you to meet with selected leaders of the Christian community in India as a show of support to the freedom of conscience and religion in India

Hindu extremists brutally attacked a group of about 70 Christians, including children, as they traveled home from a national congress focused on praying for peace in India amid escalating persecution. According to Christian Solidarity Worldwide, three men on motorcycles attacked Christians traveling home from the Third National Congress of the Synod of Pentecostal Churches in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, on Feb 5. The men verbally threatened the passengers before smashing the windshields of the vehicles, causing injury to the driver and passengers, which included women, children and the elderly. Pastor Paul Raj, one of the passengers, immediately called the police, who arrived at the scene a short time later. A First Information Report, which is necessary to start an investigation, has been registered against the perpetrators and investigations have been initiated. Local sources report that the attack is believed to have been perpetrated by religious extremists who were aware of the national congress and planned the ambush on the Christians. CSW’s Chief Executive Mervyn Thomas called the attack a “worrying example of the religious intolerance and violence that is being allowed to fester and take root in the largest democracy in the world.” “Religious minorities in India should feel safe and free to practice and profess their religion or

U.S. president Donald Trump will raise the issue of religious freedom with prime minister Narendra Modi during his visit to India that is starting on February 24, the White House said on Friday. This is not very good news for India because there have been several instances of BJP ministers such as Giriraj Kishore speaking out on why Muslims should not have stayed on in India after 1947, and several cases of sedition cases being filed against Muslim or Christian protesters in some states, especially Karnataka in recent weeks. As usual, this advance intimation of U.S. intent came in an official briefing by the Trump administration to reporters in Washington with no words minced. As the briefing official said, religious freedom is especially important to this regime in Washington.  The timing and nature of the White House is particularly interesting. This pointed mention of the state of religious freedom in India comes a couple of weeks after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo inaugurated a US-led initiative on international religious freedom, and US administration officials indicated that events in India were definite on that radar.  "President Trump will talk about our shared tradition of democracy and religious freedom both in his public remarks and then certainly in private. He will

Police find no evidence for accusations but yield to Hindu extremist pressure. Three Christians in northern India spent more than two months in jail suffering abuse from other prisoners, even though police found no evidence of wrongdoing and the complainant retracted his accusation, sources said. In Uttar Pradesh state’s Mau District, 23-year-old pastor Ajay Kumar, fellow pastor Om Prakash, 20, and another Christian, 62-year-old Kapil Dev Ram, still face fabricated charges after being released on bail late last month. Pastor Kumar said the time they spent in jail was a “nightmare.” “Every night was a traumatic night for us,” Pastor Kumar told Morning Star News. “We did not know when a mob would wake us in the middle of the night and torment us.” Accused of forceful conversion by Hindu extremists who disrupted their Nov. 26 worship at Ram’s home in Daraura village, the two pastors were released on bail on Jan. 27 after two months and a day in jail. Ram was released on Jan. 29 after spending two months and three days in jail. In spite of the ordeal, the pastors managed to explain the gospel of eternal salvation to many prisoners in their barracks, with one putting his faith in Christ. Pastor

President Trump concluded his two-day state visit to India on Tuesday and said the prime minister of India "wants people to have religious freedom very strongly." In a media conference in New Delhi, Trump said "I will say the prime minister was incredible on what he said

An organisation of Indian-American Christians has thanked US President Donald Trump for raising the issue of religious freedom and the plight of minorities during his talk with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying political tranquility is fundamental to economic progress. The Federation of Indian American Christian organisations in North America (FIACONA) said it “truly hopes” that the Indian government would respond positively to the concern expressed by the president that would be in the best interest of the country. Asked specifically about allegations that Muslims are being subjected to discrimination and there have been rising cases of hate crime in India, Trump in New Delhi on February 25 said: “We did discuss that and specifically Muslims. We also discussed Christians.” “I had a very powerful answer from the prime minister. We talked about religious liberty for a long period of time in front of lot of people. I had a very very powerful answer I think,” he said. Reacting to the remarks of Trump, president of FIACONA Koshy George said: “Although we lack any substance from their discussions, we are encouraged to see that the president took the opportunity to include the issue of religious freedom as a priority item at these important bilateral discussions

Protests erupted between groups for and against the citizenship law. Among the victims, a rickshaw driver married for a month. A protester challenges a policeman by pointing the gun at his face. Trump announces three billion dollar military deals. At least seven people died, including a policeman, and another 150 were injured in the clashes that broke out yesterday in Delhi during the demonstrations for the new law on Indian citizenship. It is the most tragic toll to date in a single day of protests since the legislation that discriminates against Muslims was approved in December 2019, precisely on the days when US President Donald Trump is on a state visit to India. While Trump and his wife Melania landed at Ahmedabad airport, clashes were taking place in the north-east neighborhoods, mostly populated by Muslims. The riots had started since the evening before and today the police are under investigation, unable to predict and contain the situation. The clash took place between protesters in favor and against the citizenship law. After it erupted in the Jafrabad area, urban guerrilla warfare spread to the areas of Chand Bagh, Maujpur, Bhajanpura, Kardampuri, Gokulpuri, Khajuri and Karawal Nagar. The rioters set fire to parked cars, shops along the way and petrol pumps.

Two governments, both handsomely elected, have presided over the beast’s banquet that the capital has been since Sunday night — Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s and chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s. Here’s some of what’s been served out so far on their watch: 27 snuffed human lives, more than 200 injured souls, many of them grievously, thousands scarred and scared and fleeing, the debris of inestimable property torn and charred, the wantonly desecrated remnants of places and objects of worship, cocktails of sectarian passion stirred and set aflame. Delhi was left to smoulder three days before Prime Minister Modi fired a Twitter appeal for calm, three days before chief minister Kejriwal expressed resolve to write a letter and request the army out, three days before National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval went on a walkabout to take stock and reassure blistered north-east Delhi. It’s a job beat constables or area station house officers (SHOs) are expected to do, it’s a job warders and councillors and MLAs are expected to do; that the NSA had to step out and move lane to lane, door to door resounds with the abject abdication of administrative and political authority. Between a Prime Minister immersed in his never-before enactments as host

The federal government on February 26 night notified the transfer of Delhi High Court judge Justice S Muralidhar to Punjab and Haryana High Court. The transfere notification came just hours after Justice S Muralidhar grilled the federal government, the state government and the Delhi Police over the ongoing communal violence in parts of northeast Delhi over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act. “In exercise of the power conferred by clause (1) of Article 222 of the Constitution of India, the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice of India, is pleased to transfer Shri Justice S Muralidhar, Judge of the Delhi High Court, as a Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and to direct him to assume charge of his office in the Punjab and Haryana High Court,” the government notification read. The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the transfer of three high court judges, including the third in seniority in the Delhi High Court, Justice S Muralidhar on February 12. Earlier, the proposed transfer of Justice Muralidhar to the Punjab and Haryana High Court drew strong reactions from the Delhi High Court Bar Association, which expressed shock and decided to abstain from work the next day. “Such transfers are not only detrimental to our

The clashes have been raging for four days. Videos show the police standing by without intervening in beatings. Two mosques desecrated. Archdiocese spokesman: "India owes its freedom to non-violent struggle". The toll of religious community clashes in the Indian capital has risen to 20 victims, which continue for the fourth consecutive day. The neighborhoods affected by the protests are those in the north-east quadrant, mostly inhabited by the Islamic population. The clashes are the result of the new citizenship law, which discriminates against the faithful of Islam. Speaking to AsiaNews A C Michael, a former member of the Delhi Minorities Commission, condemns the violence and calls it "state terrorism". What is happening in the capital, he explains, "can be classified as 'state terrorism'. At first glance, the state machine may not be so visible in these violent incidents. But there is strong and clear evidence that shows that they have the tacit approval of the government or the Minister of the Interior of the Union who is directly responsible for public order in Delhi, given that the police of the capital depend on him. " Today the areas involved in the clashes resemble a theater of war: destroyed shops, burned cars, bloodstains, fragments of glass and bricks thrown by protesters, piled