Elections Hinder Court Inquiry on Church Attacks
July 16, 2009
The property inside this church in Karnataka was ruined after extremists attacked the building. |
The church attacks in Karnataka that transpired in fall 2008 are still under investigation. The court commission has arranged hearings in each location where the attacks occurred, seeking to discover the cause and also to present some measures on how to prevent situations like that from happening again.
Because the hearings were scheduled to take place in the midst of the elections for the national Lok Sabha, an elected body similar to the United States House of Representatives, it was increasingly difficult for those needed in the inquiries to appear before the commission. According to The Hindu, India's national newspaper, officers holding positions of high importance were "asked to appear before the commission for deposition and cross examination by the lawyers," but "some officers had expressed their inability to attend, owing to preparations for polls, and others had sent lower-rung officers, from whom information could not be elicited."
Thus far, no Gospel for Asia-supported missionaries have been called to participate in the hearings, even though they represent more than half of those who filed affidavits describing attacks against their churches.
More than 800 affidavits were submitted to the commission and have been classified into five groups based on the seriousness of the incidents narrated.
Please continue to pray for the missionaries involved in this situation that the Lord will grant them favor in the eyes of the courts.
