Church-Reports

• Church – FCRA

1. Amnesty International halts India operations

Key Points:

1. Amnesty International India on Tuesday said the complete freezing of its bank accounts by the Government of India — which the agency termed was the latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations — has brought all its work to a grinding halt.
2. “…We came to know about the freezing of the accounts on September 10. The organisation has been compelled to let go of its staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. This is the latest in the incessant witch-hunt of human rights organizations by the Government of India over unfounded and motivated allegations,” a statement issued by Amnesty read.
3. The continuing crackdown on Amnesty International India over the last two years and the complete freezing of bank accounts, it said “was not accidental”.
4. “The constant harassment by government agencies including the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is a result of our unequivocal calls for transparency in the government, more recently for accountability of the Delhi police and the Government of India regarding the grave human rights violations in the Delhi riots and Jammu & Kashmir,” Avinash Kumar, executive director, Amnesty International India said.
5. “More than four million Indians have supported Amnesty International India’s work in the last eight years and around 1 lakh Indians have made financial contributions. These contributions evidently cannot have any relation with the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act, 2010”, the statement added.

(timesofindia.indiatimes.com, 29 September 2020)  (News Link)

• Church – Land

2. Pastor was killed, wife points at NSCN-IM man

Key Points:

1. The wife of the Pastor killed in a violent clash between villagers of Aimol Chingnunghut and Aimol Khunyai, Tengnoupal district under Tengnoupal police station over a contested playground last afternoon has alleged that it was one cadre of NSCN-IM who thrashed her husband repeatedly leading to his death.
2. Deaya Leivon said that her husband Pastor Thangjalal Aimol went to the clash site to pacify the incensed groups.But he was assaulted by one Alim alias Korsosong who is allegedly a cadre of NSCN-IM.As the Pastor lay flat on the ground after he was assaulted on the face and chest by Alim alias Korsosong, the assailant thrashed the Pastor brutally again and again. Subsequently, the Pastor succumbed to his injuries at hospital, Deaya Leivon said.
   She then urged the authorities concerned to book and punish Alim alias Korsosong of Aimol Khunyai at the earliest.
3. A press release issued by MAWC Chairman Lhunmang Haokip condoled the death of Pastor Thangjalal Aimol and conveyed solidarity to the bereaved family.

(e-pao.net, 27 September 2020)  (News Link)

                        (nagalandpost.com, 27 September 2020) (News Link)

• Church – Dalit

1. Gujarat police have arrested six people in connection with the killing of a Dalit activist and lawyer over anti-Brahmin posts on social media.

Key Points:

1. Devji Maheshwari, of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF) and a practicing lawyer from Gujarat’s Kutch district, was murdered on Sept. 25.
2. “So-called upper-caste people have realized that there is an uprising of Dalits in the recent past which they take as a threat to themselves, hence for the last 5-6 years we have seen atrocities against Dalits increase,” Father Vijay Kumar Nayak, secretary of the Indian Catholic bishops’ Office for Dalits and Lower Classes, told UCA News.
3. “Dalits and minorities are always at the receiving end at the hands of people of high society, elite groups, administration and government, so police brutality against them is nothing new.
4. “Dalit activists, academics, journalists and many more human rights activists are in the radar of the upper caste. Anyone speaking up for the Dalits and the downtrodden is attacked or branded anti-national.”
5. Father Nayak added that of late Dalits had been subject to more atrocities — so much so that even the president has taken note of it.
6. Maheshwari’s last Facebook post cited a BAMCEF official saying that scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward class members are not Hindus.

(ucanews.com, 29 September 2020) (News Link)