Insisting that the protracted anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal-Odisha in August 2008 was orchestrated and not a spontaneous reaction, an award-winning journalist has also felt that the Church in India had not done enough to exert pressure on authorities to ensure justice to victims of the worst persecution of Christians in India’s history.
Anto Akkara (50), who was recently in the State for the recent national convention of Small Christian Communities (SCCs), has written two investigative books on the Kandhamal violence, which shocked the nation after over 100 Christians were killed, 6,000 Christian houses were looted, damaged and burnt along with 300 churches and Christian institutions.
“The Supreme Court has confirmed that the orchestrated violence rendered over 50,000 Christians refugees in Kandhamal,” said Akkara, a native of Thrissur (Kerala), but based in New Delhi to cover South Asia for the international media.
Akkara said he decided to investigate the anti-Christian violence in Kandhamal after being shocked by massive cover-up operations by the administration.
“The only way to reach Kandhamal from Bhubaneswar is an arduous travel along backbreaking roads for over six hours. I made 17 trips to Kandhamal in five years, as each visit threw up fresh leads,” said Akkara.
“I saw real Christians for the first time, not in Kerala or Goa, but in Kandhamal. The poor but valiant Christians of Kandhamal paid the ultimate price of being disciples of Jesus. They could easily have renounced their faith when threatened with death. But they refused to forsake their faith and preferred to either die or to live in the jungles and later in refugee camps and slums.”
Admitting various pressures during his investigations, Akkara said, “I faced a hostile mob a couple of times as well as email threats from those squirming under the shocking facts I uncovered. Even my baggage, including the camera kit, was mysteriously stolen near Bangalore and police officers were asked to save the guilty at the order of a senior police official.”
Akkara’s investigations over five years, documented in two books, ‘Kandhamal craves for Justice’ and ‘Early Christians of 21st Century,’ and his relentless pursuit of truth and justice in Kandhamal have earned him acclaim at home and abroad.
“I received four awards for my Kandhamal work, including one at the World Congress of Christian Media in Panama City in October. I even interacted with Union Minister P Chidambaram (when he was home minister) and he cited my book in the Parliament ~ to retired judges, top editors and others,” he added.
Asked if the Church in India had exerted adequate pressure on authorities to nab the culprits and pursue justice, Akkara replied with a tinge of disappointment, “I would simply say the Church could have certainly done much better.”
“While I feel that Church leadership should not be in the forefront of clamouring for justice as that would polarize communities, the law should take its course. Though the National People’s Tribunal on Kandhamal was organized, the documentary effort and bold timely intervention was missing due to several reasons.”
“The local church has its own limitations in waging a solid legal challenge against those perpetrators backed by a strong national network. There was lack of coordination between the local church and more organized national structures of the Church to put up a solid legal approach to redress the injustice in Kandhamal,” he said.
He also regretted the denial of justice to the victims. “Though two fast track courts were set up, police could bring to trial only 3,181 of the 84,000 named in complaints. Only 477 were convicted for minor offences like arson and rioting. Except in two cases, 27 murder trials ended up in acquittals, due to shoddy investigation and lacklustre prosecution.”
As a parting message to the Goans, Akkara said, “Learn from the Kandhamal Christians. You have been baptized and blessed by St Francis Xavier, just as we from Kerala trace our faith to St Thomas the Apostle.”
