Indian police were ordered to shoot on sight to end Hindu-Christian clashes on Wednesday as Pope Benedict XVI "firmly condemned" violence that has killed at least nine people. Parts of eastern Orissa state have been rocked by Hindu-Christian clashes since Saturday, when a hard-line Hindu holy leader and four other people were shot dead by unknown assailants.
"We issued shoot-on-sight orders in the wake of large-scale violence" despite a curfew imposed Monday, said local administrator Satyabrata Sahu. Mobs armed with sticks went on the rampage, torching government buildings and vehicles and staging other attacks, he said.
Anti-riot forces had rushed to the area 300 kilometres (180 miles) south-west of state capital Bhubaneswar but were unable to reach many parts as protesters had "choked access roads with fallen trees," Sahu told AFP by telephone. Pope Benedict XVI "firmly condemned" the violence in Orissa, where Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two young sons were burnt alive in 1999 - a crime for which a Hindu man is serving life in jail.
The pontiff said he "learnt with great sorrow" about "the violence against the Christian community in Orissa state which broke out after the reprehensible assassination of the Hindu leader Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati."
The death toll from the violence since Saraswati's murder stood at nine, according to figures compiled by the state government. Among those killed are a Hindu woman working at an orphanage who was burnt to death when the missionary-run facility was torched by a Hindu mob. Originally she was reported to be a nun.
Authorities have refused to reveal the religious identities of the other people killed in the clashes. But a senior police official, who wished to remain unnamed, said the dead included two Christians and two Hindus. National junior home minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, visiting Bhubaneshwar, urged the state government to go on a "war footing" to contain the violence.
Hindu-Christian clashes erupt periodically in India where 2.3 percent of the more than 1.1 billion population are Christians. Hard-line Hindus accuse missionaries of "bribing" poor tribals and low-caste Hindus, who often face strong discrimination, to convert by offering education and health care.
Police have blamed the death of Saraswati, who had campaigned against the so-called "forced conversions," on Maoist guerrillas. But hard-line Hindus accused Christians of responsibility for his death. "The Christian missionaries are responsible for the murder," fiery Hindu nationalist leader Praveen Togadia told AFP. Authorities would not comment on allegations by an Indian bishops' group that dozens of churches had been burnt along with hundreds of houses belonging to Christians in Kandhamal and adjoining districts. But junior home secretary Jaiswal said "any delay in bringing back normalcy could worsen the prevailing situation. This is not bad for the state alone but for the entire nation."
Christian groups estimate at least half a million people following the faith live in Orissa. In Kandhamal, where the latest trouble flared, 20 percent of the population is believed to be Christian. "This is unprecedented violence, much more widespread than we've ever seen," Father Babu Joseph, spokesman of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India told.
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