NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

    BHUBANESHWAR, India (CWNews.com) - Police in India arrested two men on Friday in the murder of a Catholic priest this week and said the religious conversion of Hindus to Catholicism may have sparked the incident.

    "Local issues seem to have led to the killing," Pradeep Kapoor, police chief of Mayurbhanj district in eastern Orissa state, said. "There was a dispute over the celebration of Nuakhai, a Hindu festival. The (Christian) converts separately held the festival which might have angered the nearby villagers," Kapoor said. Sahadeva Sahoo, Orissa's top civil servant, said earlier that two people had been arrested but gave no details.

    Orissa officials blamed Catholics for causing tension in the region. "Catholic priests are trying to separate the families after converting tribals and others, which is leading to social tension," said Ajit Tripathy, the Orissa home secretary.

    Christian groups have condemned the killing as evidence of a widespread bias against Christians perpetuated by extremist Hindu nationalists, including the BJP party of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Vajpayee condemned the murder which took place in the same region where an Australian missionaries and his two young sons were murdered in January.

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