ASIA/INDIA - Bishops of Orissa establish "Martyrs Day"

Bhubaneswar (Agenzia Fides) - The Bishops of the Indian state of Orissa have decided unanimously to establish "Martyrs Day" and dedicate it to the victims of anti-Christian massacres that occurred in the district of Kandhamal in 2008. As Fides learns from the local Church, the Day will be celebrated in the month of August each year. This is what the five Bishops of the state (of the Diocese of Sambalpur, Berhampur, Rourkela, Balasore and Cuttack-Bhubaneswar) decided during their annual meeting.
So far the local Church had celebrated a "Day of Remembrance" to remember the victims of the massacres.
Archbishop John Barwa SVD, President of the Council of Bishops of Orsissa, confirms to Fides that "the exact date will be decided in accordance with the victims' families. We intend to give them deep consolation, perpetuating the memory of their loved ones and recognizing them as martyrs".
"Those killed during the anti-Christian persecution in 2008 deserve our commitment, honor, respect and recognition: they died for their Christian faith and witness of Christ", explains to Fides Mgr. Sarat Chandra Nayak, Bishop of Berhampur.
Mgr. Simon Kaipuram, Bishop of Balasore, told Fides that "the Episcopal Council of Orissa will ask the Bishops' Conference of India to extend the celebration of the Day to the entire nation".
"I welcome this decision. We must recognize the dead in Kandhamal in 2008 as martyrs of faith", said to Fides the lay Catholic John Dayal, secretary general of the All India Christian Council (AICC) and member of the National Integration Council of the Government of India. "It is important that the entire civil society in India remembers the massacres of Kandhamal: it is the most ferocious attack that Christians have suffered in history. And the victims have been betrayed by the criminal justice system", added Dayal.
In the violence that broke out on August 25, 2008 in the district of Kandhamal, over 90 Christians were killed, more than 350 churches and places of worship were destroyed, 6,500 houses destroyed, 40 women were victims of rapes and beatings, over 56 thousand Christians were expelled from their villages. (SD-PA) (Agenzia Fides 02/09/2015)