A radical Hindu group in India has asked the government to stop special benefits for tribal people who converted to Christianity or Islam. The call came as two Christian-majority states – Meghalaya and Nagaland – are scheduled to hold state elections at the end of February.
Indian government runs affirmative action programs for disadvantaged communities officially listed as Scheduled Tribes. Millions of people from the ethnic tribal communities on the list are eligible for social welfare benefits like educational scholarships and job quotas in government institutions.
Tribal people pray in Ranchi after the Jharkhand government passed a resolution to recognize their tribal religion on Nov. 11, 2020. (Photo: supplied)
The Hindu group plans to hold a mass demonstration at Guwahati city of Assam and march to the state capital Dispur, on Sunday, to demand federal and state governments make constitutional amendments to prevent tribal Christians from drawing the benefits.
Christian leaders alleged that the Hindu group’s demand is a political conspiracy to create divisions among tribal people on religious lines.
Pakistani Catholics paid tributes to former military chief and ex-President General Pervez Musharraf, hailing him for his statesmanship and support to the country’s religious minorities.
Musharraf died last Sunday in Dubai at the age of 79. He ruled the strife-torn South Asian country for nearly a decade after seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1999. He headed the country at the time when the United States started the global war on terror in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.
St Pope John Paul II with General Pervez Musharraf during a meeting in the Vatican City on Sept. 30, 2004. (Photo: file)
Father Inayat Barnard, the chaplain of Caritas Pakistan, remembered General Musharraf as a great statesman who attempted to make the nation free from terrorism and corruption. Bishop Yousaf Sohan of Multan remembered the late president for supporting vulnerable religious minorities.
Musharraf was born in Delhi in British India on Aug. 11, 1943. His family and millions of other Muslims migrated to Pakistan following the British-imposed partition of India in 1947. He studied in church-run institutes before joining the military in 1961.
Hong Kong’s prosecutors accused 47 pro-democracy activists including former lawmakers of subversion and conspiracy against the city’s government.
During the largest trial under the repressive national security law that began on Monday, state prosecutors alleged that the defendants had plotted to use their majority in the city’s legislature as a “lethal constitutional weapon.” Among the defendants, 16 pleaded not guilty to the charge of conspiracy to commit subversion, whereas 31 pleaded guilty.
Benny Tai, a legal scholar and politician in Hong Kong is among 47 pro-democracy figures accused of subversion and conspiracy against the government in the city’s largest national security trial. (File photo: AFP)
Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Anthony Chau in his opening remarks of the trial urged the court to consider the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest as a relevant context in the case. He said the unrest led to escalating violence, vandalism, and arson.
If found guilty of the crimes, the defendants face life imprisonment under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law enacted in 2020. Critics say Beijing’s repressive policy has cast a lethal blow to the autonomy, basic freedoms and rights people in the former British colony enjoyed under the “one country, two systems” framework.
Members of a Protestant House Church in northern China, forcibly shut down last year, launched a prayer campaign for the well-being of detained pastors, leaders, and their family members amid a government crackdown.
Five prayer requests were sent to the members as the authorities in the Yadou district of Shanxi province have continued an investigation into the Linfen Covenant House Church. The church and a church-run school were shut down last November, citing unauthorized religious and educational activities.
A Church is seen at Linfen in China’s northern Shaanxi province in this file photo. Members of the Linfen Covenant House Church have circulated prayer requests for the well-being of detained leaders and pastors amid a government crackdown. (Photo: China Christian Daily)
Last August, police arrested the church’s preachers – Li Jie and Han Xiaodong – and placed them under house arrest. Later, following interrogations of church members, police arrested Wang Qiang, a leader, and co-worker of the church.
The three arrested were charged with “fraud” allegedly based on testimonies of church members that they “defrauded” congregants through tithings and offerings. The church reportedly came under fire after the leaders refused to join the state-run Three-Self Patriotic Movement.
In conflict-torn Myanmar, another Catholic Church was hit by military forces. Two artillery shells fell on Our Lady of Sorrow Church in Pekhon diocese following intense fighting between the military and rebel groups in Christian-majority Kayah state last Saturday.
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