Orissa’s troubled Kandhamal district witnessed fresh violence on the eve of New Year on Monday night forcing the authorities to conduct a police flag march in Phiringia block of the district, besides re-imposing day-time curfew in four most sensitive areas.
The day-time curfew, however, remained relaxed in the district headquarters town of Phulbani. According to a report reaching here, tension prevailed in the Phiringia block on Monday night when groups of people clashed and pelted stones at each other in four villages of the block. Several houses were also set on fire. Additional forces have been deployed in the entire block.
Paramilitary forces launched a combing operation in different parts of the district on Tuesday to nab the anti-socials and seize unlicensed arms. The police have so far rounded up 80 people in connection with the communal violence in the district. Forty cases have been registered against them.
The district administration also organized peace committee meetings in different riot hit areas on Tuesday. However, the meetings have not been successful in restoring total peace yet.
Meanwhile, the All India Christian Council on Tuesday rejected the state government’s claim that only three people had so far died in communal violence in Kandhamal.
“The death figure will be much more,” council leaders John Dayal and Ibrahim Mathai told a press conference.
Several people are still missing, they maintained, adding that 72 churches had been destroyed and damaged in the violence in Kandhamal district. Besides, five convents and six hostels were also attacked and damaged during the riots.
The Council leaders also rejected the Orissa government’s decision to go for a judicial probe into the Kandhamal incident by a retired High Court judge and demanded that the inquiry be conducted either by the CBI or a sitting High Court judge.
“We want an independent probe to let the truth come out in the open,” they observed.
Film-maker Mahesh Bhatt, who arrived here on Tuesday on invitation from the Christian Council, expressed his concern over the Kandhamal incident and urged both the state government and the Centre to act urgently to restore peace and communal harmony in the riot-hit district.“Unfortunately, the urgency is missing”, he lamented.
In this context, he said that the even the Union home minister was unaware of the Kandhamal situation even after 24 hours of the violence. He warned that the country would face disastrous consequences if people would forget respecting each other as well as each other’s faith and religion.
PROTECT CHRISTIANS: NHRC
New Delhi, dhns: Expressing concern about the reported attacks on members of Christian community in Orissa, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Tuesday directed the state government to provide protection to the minority community and also asked for a detailed enquiry report on the death and loss of property caused by the attacks. The commission has also decided to send its own investigation team to Kandhamal district of Orissa to get a first hand information on the violence there and also to restore the confidence of the members of the minority community in the area.
The Commission’s move comes after a delegation of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of India (CBCI) met the chairperson, Justice S Rajendra Babu, here on Monday and submitted a memorandum requesting him to safeguard the rights of Christians and their institutions.
The memorandum also drew the commission’s attention to the attacks on Christians and their institutions in Kandhamal district on December 24 and 25, 2007 and alleged that these attacks seemed to be a planned effort to disturb communal peace.
