Humra Quraishi’s Column
Attacks on Christians
Humra Quraishi
Violence doesn’t seem
halting. Whether here or
there. Brutality seems on and ongoing. Where we heading… when heat speeches and targeted attacks are ongoing? Not sure how the Palestinian Christians could even observe Christmas amidst all the destruction and deaths. No halting of killings there. Just too painfully shocking!
Focusing on the situation here, earlier this week there came up news reports of the targeted hounding of the Christians, in and around Christmas. Jesuit priest Father Cedric Prakash sent this report highlighting the incidents of violence against the Christian community in our country. To quote from it: “Presently, January 2024 to November 2024, India has recorded 745 incidents of Christian citizens being attacked for their faith… the Manipur riots witnessed the destruction of over 200 churches and countless lives lost. These incidents of anti-Christian violence have been linked to Hindu nationalist groups, which have been accused of receiving support from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).”
This detailed report also focuses on the facts and figures to the attacks in recent years: “According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), there were 327 incidents of violence against Christians in 2021 alone. In 2022, over 300 attacks against Christians were reported across the country, with many incidents going unreported. The United Christian Forum (UCF) reported 486 incidents of anti-Christian violence in 2022, including 115 incidents of physical violence and 357 incidents of intimidation and harassment.
The UCF monitored trend listed 127 incidents in the year 2014, when the Modi government took over power… Churches and Christian institutions have been specifically targeted in many incidents. In 2021, at least 15 churches were vandalized or set on fire across India.
In 2021, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed India on its “Countries of Particular Concern” list, citing the country’s “systematic, ongoing, and egregious” persecution of religious minorities. Simultaneously, 13 state governments have now enacted anti-conversion bills, which are being blatantly abused to wreak havoc on the lives of Christian citizens.”
Shabnam Makes a Difference!
Shabnam Hashmi is one such individual who has been reaching out to fellow citizens, trying to make them financially and socially strong and secure. She set up ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) in 2003 to work as a forum or platform or base to reach out to hundreds amongst us… In the last two years, Shabnam has been trying to empower women in rural Kashmir. She and her team have been working tirelessly to teach women in remote villages in Kupwara, the art of crewel embroidery to quote her: “We began this journey two years ago, driven by our passion to empower rural women. We started production only three months ago. Our products may not be very cheap, but they are priced to ensure that our artisans receive fair compensation and that we can sustain this initiative.”
She details, “The process is painstakingly slow. Our volunteers make multiple trips from our center to Srinagar. What had got Shabnam close to the Kashmir region and its people? “Our Anhad volunteers arrived in Kashmir immediately after the October 2005 earthquake. We went to Tangdar and visited and distributed relief material in 15 villages: Amroi, Tad, Hajitra, Dhanni, Gabra, Gundi Gujra, Dhringla, Gabdori, Nyay Gabra, Kundla, Madanpura, Haftana Gabra, Khawaspara, Badwanj, Bakhaiyan Malda. Only army had reached the villages apart from Anhad.
Anhad started a Community Centre in Khumriyal in November 2022. The centre actively engages with the youth, women and children of Khumriyal and about fifteen surrounding villages. Shabnam details that the Community Centre has a library with over 800 books. The library is open to the public and functions all through… The library has a collection of books for competitive exams like UPSC, JKPSC and NEET as well as books for primary, and secondary class students. It has a good collection of fiction, reference books, literature for children. Students can read the books in the study room or they can also borrow the books from the library for home. Students get a peaceful and noise free environment for studying. Library space also serves as a meeting room for the community meetings, discussions, and poetry sessions once or twice a month…. They also run a six months Diploma in Computer Applications and also Six months Diploma in Tailoring, Cutting and Machine knitting… Then there are several outreach programs too, for women and the youth and children of the region.
This writer was pleasantly surprised to know that the national campaign, #Mere Ghar AaKe To Dekho (Visit My Home, Be My Guest) was launched last year ((2023) on August 15 across 27 states. It was initiated by Anhad and was joined by approximately 100 organisations across India. As part of the campaign, Anhad invited people from across India to visit Lolab Valley, Kupwara and live in rural Kashmiri homes from 13-17 October 2023… Shabnam details, “The visitors were from Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi, Mewat, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Kutch and Varanasi and included people from the field of management, hospitality professionals, entrepreneurs, physicians, psychologists, lawyers, gender experts, teachers, artists and activists who were hosted in different villages. This program helped in eliminating the preconceived notions about each other.”
26-12-2024
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Vol 57, No. 29, Jan 12 - 18, 2025 |