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At first, we believed the trends of 2007 would continue this year in India. But then came the third quarter and intense violence broke out in Orissa. Hindu extremists reacted fiercely to the murder of one of their leaders on 23 August, and in a wave of violence that lasted many weeks, more than 110 believers were killed (some sources even claim that more than 500 Christians were killed), more than 170 churches were destroyed, more than 4,500 Christian homes were destroyed, and more than 54,000 people were displaced (more than 10,000 Christians are still living in refugee camps). In all, the third quarter of 2008 has been one of the worst on record for Christians in India. For the rest, the number of incidents regarding arrests, physical harassment, abductions and church attacks remained high all over India, but with concentrations in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Uttarakhand. Apart from Orissa, Christians were killed in Andhra Pradesh (2), Kerala (1), Madhya Pradesh (1), Maharashtra (1), Tamil Nadu (2) and Uttarakhand (2).
The fact that India has gone down in the list can be attributed purely to the absence of an event on the scale of the August/September 2008 riots in Orissa. This means fewer Christians have been killed, fewer have been physically harassed and fewer churches have been destroyed. However, physical harassment and attacks on prayer meetings still largely remain prevalent, especially in the states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Chhattisgarh.
(January 2010)