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US urge India to protect Christians

Saturday, October 10, 2009 WASHINGTON: US lawmakers urged authorities in India's eastern state of Orissa to prosecute perpetrators of violence against Christians, saying the nation's reputation for tolerance was at stake.In a letter to the state's Chief Minister Navin Patnaik released Friday, the lawmakers voiced concern that many perpetrators of last year's violence were still at large and intimidating their victims.More than 100 Christian were killed and thousands more left homeless between August and October 2008 following the murder of a revered Hindu holy man, which was blamed on Christians."Such attacks on the fundamental freedom of religion threaten not only India's reputation for religious diversity, but also the very stability of India's secular democracy," the 21 lawmakers, led by Republican Trent Franks, wrote in the letter sent late last month."Given the recent experience with religiously inspired terrorism, we are concerned that if Hindu extremists can act with impunity toward religious minorities in India, these extremists and their ideologies will begin to affect international security as well."Christians account for 2.3 percent of the billion-plus population in India, which is majority Hindu but officially secular.
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