The fear of the civil war will lead after violent Kuki Christians were attacked in disturbed state Manipur, in India.
The Bibles were burnt, over 300 churches were destroyed and 50 thousand already displaced during attacks on Christians in the state over the last two weeks.
There are fears that weeks of violence against the Christian community in north-eastern India will lead to civil war.
The attacks in the state of Manipur have left at least 70 people dead and forced another 10,000 Christians from their homes.
The destruction has been widespread, with at least 300 churches burned or demolished and 1,000 Christian homes destroyed, Open Doors reports.
Such is the level of concern that the charity has launched an emergency appeal to support the beleaguered Christian community.
The Hindutva BJP-RSS-VHP and Bajrang Dal organisations are seeking out Christians to kill or forcibly convert to Hinduism in the state.
The Hindutva BJP state government, however, has done nothing to stop the violence. “If the situa-tion continues, civil war is inevitable,” the one Open Doors partner in India, who cannot be named for security reasons, said.
“If there is a civil war the situation will only be-come more gruesome, more lives lost, properties destroyed and further open persecution of religious minorities.”
Henrietta Blyth, Chief Executive of Open Doors UK and Ireland, said that Hindu extremists have used the communal violence “as a platform to further attack the Christian community”.
“Churches from both the Meitei and Kuki sides were burned and demolished. Christians were beaten up and chased out of their homes.
The minority tribes are hiding in IDP camps as they are fearing for their lives and rightly so.
“Hindutva group Arambai Tenggol is forcibly re-converting Christians and reportedly seeking out church leaders to kill,” it added.
“People don’t have food or shelter and are still facing threats of physical violence,” said Blyth, adding that many people have suffered from mental and physical loss and are deeply traumatised.
She added, “If the worst happened and Manipur descends into civil war further down the line, the human suffering it would cause, on both sides, would be immeasurable.”
Another local Open Doors partner said that people are “living in fear and are sceptical of what the future holds”.
“We need your help in raising a voice against the injustice and atrocities faced by the Christians.”—KMS
