The Hindu : National : Frightened Christian families still hiding in jungles and hills

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
ePaper

National

National

Frightened Christian families still hiding in jungles and hills

Staff Reporter

Miscreants threaten to burn the house of a lecturer who offered shelter to the victims

— Photo: By special arrangement

AT THEIR WITS’ END: Hounded out by communal elements and left to fend for themselves by the administration and police these hapless people are still scared to return to Barkhama village in Kandhamal district in Orissa.

BERHAMPUR: Several Christian families of Barkhama, a village badly hit by the recent outbreak of communal violence are still hiding in the nearby jungles and hills.

Two persons were killed and over 400 houses, besides some churches, were gutted there. One hundred and forty two homeless families are at the relief camps set up at Baliguda. The administration has urged all homeless victims of the communal violence to return to their villages.

According to Dadini, a victim of the violence, several families which fled Barkhama were hiding in the jungles within a range of six to seven kilometres from Baliguda.

Without food, water

Ludinga Digal, who had reached the Baliguda camp, had no news of his son and daughter-in-law. Digal said the people hiding in the jungle and hills were living without proper food and water since December 25.

Tejeswar Nayak, a college lecturer, alleged that he was getting threatening calls from unidentified persons because he had given shelter to pastors and the priests of ransacked churches and Christian establishments at Baliguda. Miscreants continued their threats to burn up his house as well.

Fr. Laxmikant Pradhan, parish priest of the ransacked Baliguda church, wondered how the victims of police and administrative negligence could return in a few days.

More patrolling sought

The local people wanted more patrolling by armed policemen. Suresh Kumar Panda, Additional Superintendent of Police of Kalahandi, who is now camping at Baliguda, said it might not be possible to increase patrolling in the area now.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National