Posted on 02/28/2002 8:39:58 PM PST by kattracks
AHMADABAD, India March 1 — Angry Hindus set fire to homes in a shantytown in western India on Friday, killing at least 27 Muslims as they slept, police said. The latest violence raises the death toll in the series of attacks on the religious minority to more than 100.
At least 76 people died in attacks Thursday, when Hindu rioters stormed a Muslim neighborhood and then kept firefighters away for hours, dragging out one former lawmaker and burning him alive. The attacks were revenge for a Muslim assault on a train.
In Friday's attack in Narora, on the outskirts of Ahmadabad, about 300 Hindus set fire to a Muslim-dominated shantytown in an industrial area at about 2 a.m., Deputy Police Commissioner P.B. Gondya told The Associated Press.
"We have recovered 27 charred bodies. The people were asleep when the incident happened," Gondya said. At least seven women and eight children were among the dead, he said. Another 42 people were hospitalized, some with burns over 80 percent of their bodies.
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Just as a guess, I'd say that those folks living in shacks didn't have much of a foreign policy.
God bless our founders for the 1st amendment. They knew how ugly religious wars can get. Now we have elected representives messing with that 1st amendment to protect their own jobs and calling it 'reform".
Is there something wrong with this picture?
New spate of attacks targets Christians
Published 2/25/2002 Washington Times
NEW DELHI — Violence against India's Christian minority has surged this year, with reports of at least one attack each week in what church leaders are calling a "reign of terror" spreading throughout the country.
In the most recent incident, about 70 men wearing saffron headbands — an emblem of the Hindu nationalists — attacked a church near Mysore, in South India, where children were attending a catechism class. The attack last week seriously wounded about 20 people.
It has all the predictability of a rack of pool balls!
Hindus vs Muslims, wouldn't be the first time. But don't worry. The UN will come in stop the violence, just like they did in Rwanda, Sierria Leon, Sudan, Aghanistan, Cambodia, Bosnia, etc. Of course it will be after a couple of million die, but as they say, "there will be peace in our time."
Agreed nonetheless that democratic Hindu India is a non-threat and good enough friend, a great contrast to many points west and east of there.
You people are starting to scare me. FYI, the United States is hated by much of the world. FYI, conservatives are hated by a significant minority of Americans. People getting burned while they sleep is no laughing matter. Your arguments have the same kind of logic that the al queda used to destroy the wtc towers.
There is no doubt that the actions of this mob bring shame to every Hindu but the difference you fail to see is that their actions were denounced by fellow Hindus before anyone else and that action was taken.
As for those who point to "traditions" like widow-burning, you must know all too well that these practices are rare and outlawed -- were witches not burnt at the stake in America as recently as a century ago? Look at any part of the world and you will find that Hindus live peacefully alongside people of other religions - and often are extremely successful at what they do - the Hindus in America being a case in point.
When they were persecuted in many parts of the world, India was one of few places where the Jews found themselves welcomed -- where does the Dalai Lama live? Which other country stands up to the Chinese in such a manner? Where do the Bangladeshi refugees - mostly Muslims - go to seek a better life?
But it's easier to just sneer "Hinduism=peace", right??
I cannot explain the anti-Christian violence that occurs, albeit rarely and in rural areas, from time to time -- there is NO way (nor should there be) to justify it. However, Christians in urban areas and for the most part get along just fine with their Hindu/Muslim neighbors. Go to Mumbai or Delhi and you will find entire sections of the town lit up during Christmas, annual fairs on the birthdays of Saints, and even Hindus going to churches to seek blessings. Please do not equate Muslims in India with the Christians as being "allies against the oppressing Hindus" -- nothing could be further from the truth.
You are confusing me with someone else, I had no arguments.. only comments.
It was a strange custom, but at least you should portray it correctly. Hindus did not throw widows onto funeral pyres. The widows went into the flames willingly. It was expected of them and they just did it.
The Hindu wife worshipped her husband as if he were a god. When her husband died, the wife found no meaning in living. She wanted to join her husband in death, and she did voluntarily.
When the British outlawed this practice, they had to physically restrain widows from walking into the fire. Windows begged the British authorities to let them join their husbands in death and permit them to commit themselves to the flames of the funeral pyre.
I am not justifying the custom. But you are wrong to say they threw the women into this fire. It is difficult for a Westerner to understand the fervor of these women who committed suicide voluntarily.
Jews and Christians used to stone adulterous woman to death. This is the punishment perscribed by the Old Testament. Jews and Christians don't do this any more. Religious practice changes over time. Some Muslims still stone adulterous women to death. Maybe they will do like the Jews and Christians and stop this practice as well.
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