Violence doesn't seem to be halting, whether here or there. Brutality seems ongoing. Where are we heading... when hate speeches and targeted attacks are continuing? Not sure how the Palestinian Christians could even observe Christmas amidst all the destruction and deaths. There is no halting of killings there. It is too painfully shocking!
Focusing on the domestic situation, earlier this week there came news reports of the targeted hounding of Christians around Christmas. Jesuit priest Father Cedric Prakash sent this report highlighting the incidents of violence against the Christian community in our country.
To quote from it: "Presently, January 2024 to November 2024, India has recorded 745 incidents of Christian citizens being attacked for their faith... the Manipur riots witnessed the destruction of over 200 churches and countless lives lost. These incidents of anti-Christian violence have been linked to Hindu nationalist groups, which have been accused of receiving support from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)."
This detailed report also focuses on the facts and figures related to attacks in recent years. According to the Evangelical Fellowship of India (EFI), there were 327 incidents of violence against Christians in 2021 alone. In 2022, over 300 attacks against Christians were reported across the country, with many incidents going unreported.
The United Christian Forum (UCF) reported 486 incidents of anti-Christian violence in 2022, including 115 incidents of physical violence and 357 incidents of intimidation and harassment. The UCF-monitored trend listed 127 incidents in the year 2014, when the Modi government took over power... Churches and Christian institutions have been specifically targeted in many incidents.
In 2021, at least 15 churches were vandalized or set on fire across India. In 2022, several churches were attacked, including a church in Delhi that was vandalized by a group of Hindu extremists. In 2021, at least 17 human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, cosponsored a Congressional briefing to request the US Government to take action against the growing persecution of Christians in India.
In 2021, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) placed India on its 'Countries of Particular Concern' list, citing the country's 'systematic, ongoing, and egregious' persecution of religious minorities. Simultaneously, 13 state governments have now enacted anti-conversion bills, which are being blatantly abused to wreak havoc on the lives of Christian citizens."
Individuals Do Make a Difference... Yes, They Do!
Shabnam Hashmi is one such individual who has been reaching out to fellow citizens, trying to make them financially and socially strong and secure. She set up ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony and Democracy) in 2003 to work as a forum, platform, or base to reach out to hundreds among us.
In the last two years, Shabnam has been trying to empower women in rural Kashmir. She and her team have been working tirelessly to teach women in remote villages in Kupwara the art of crewel embroidery.
To quote her: "We began this journey two years ago, driven by our passion to empower rural women. We started production only three months ago. Our products may not be very cheap, but they are priced to ensure that our artisans receive fair compensation and that we can sustain this initiative."
She details, "The process is painstakingly slow. Our volunteers make multiple trips from our centre to Srinagar. They source the cloth and thread, which can only be found in Srinagar. The cloth is then traced with intricate designs, requiring another trip to Srinagar. Several more trips follow, as our volunteers travel to the villages to deliver the cloth to the women, and then return to collect the embroidered pieces.”
“After 20-25 days of meticulous embroidery, the pieces are taken back to Srinagar for washing and ironing. Another trip follows to collect the finished products, which are then couriered to Delhi for stitching. Finally, after months of hard work, hand-embroidered products are ready for sale here in the capital region... on December 27, 2024, at V 38/9, DLF City, Phase III, Gurugram," she adds.
What had gotten Shabnam close to the Kashmir region and its people?
"Our Anhad volunteers arrived in Kashmir immediately after the October 2005 earthquake. We went to Tangdhar and visited and distributed relief material in 15 villages: Amroi, Tad, Hajitra, Dhanni, Gabra, Gundi Gujra, Dhringla, Gabdori, Nyay Gabra, Kundla, Madanpura, Haftana Gabra, Khawaspara, Badwanj, Bakhaiyan Malda. Only the army had reached the villages apart from Anhad,” she says.
“The first visit led to the second and then to the third with more relief material. This was the beginning of our relationship with Kashmir,” she says.
“Anhad provided livelihood support to 700 families... We organized major activities with youth, have run youth clubs, vocational training courses and cultural activities in over 30 villages in Uri and Tangdar... We had a theatre festival and Naseeruddin Shah's theatre workshop in Srinagar. Talk and discussion with Nandita Das; student documentary film festival; South Asian Documentary Film Festival; media students' workshops on lighting and cameras; media students' workshops on graphic design... Anhad spent 2005–2011 actively working in Kashmir and then again revived its work in Kashmir at a small level in 2022."
Anhad started a Community Centre in Khumriyal in November 2022. The centre actively engages with the youth, women, and children of Khumriyal and about fifteen surrounding villages.
Shabnam details that the Community Centre has a library with over 800 books. The library is open to the public and functions throughout the day. The library has a collection of books for competitive exams like UPSC, JKPSC, and NEET as well as books for primary and secondary class students. It has a good collection of fiction, reference books, and literature for children.
Students can read the books in the study room, or they can also borrow the books from the library for home. Students get a peaceful and noise-free environment for studying. The library space also serves as a meeting room for community meetings, discussions, and poetry sessions once or twice a month.
They also run a six-month Diploma in Computer Applications and a six-month Diploma in Tailoring, Cutting and Machine Knitting. Then there are several outreach programs too, for women and the youth and children of the region.
I was pleasantly surprised to know that the national campaign, #MereGharAaKeToDekho (Visit My Home, Be My Guest), that was launched last year (2023) on August 15 across 27 states was initiated by Anhad and was joined by approximately 100 organizations across India.
As part of the campaign, Anhad invited people from across India to visit Lolab Valley, Kupwara and live in rural Kashmiri homes from 13-17 October, 2023. Shabnam details, "The visitors were from Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kochi, Mewat, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Kutch, and Varanasi and included people from the field of management, hospitality professionals, entrepreneurs, physicians, psychologists, lawyers, gender experts, teachers, artists, and activists who were hosted in different villages. This program helped in eliminating the preconceived notions about each other."
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