GAUHATI, India (AP)--Christian leaders in remote northeastern India Thursday sought government protection for the lives and property of religious minorities after mounting attacks by armed separatist rebels, church leaders said.
"The Indian government must ensure a peaceful and secure environment by preserving the sanctity of all religious and educational institutions," the Nagaland Christian Forum, a church group, wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
During the past week, more than 20,000 people participated in rallies across Nagaland state to protest the killing of three Roman Catholic priests by militants in neighboring Manipur state earlier this month.
"Christians are under threat in India. The killings are a pointer to this," Father T. T. Joseph, a spokesman of the Don Bosco Society, a Christian organization, said by telephone from Kohima, Nagaland's capital.
The Roman Catholic church in the region is considering closing several schools that it runs in Manipur following extortion threats by guerrilla groups.
Separatist rebels have asked the Church to pay large sums of money as "taxes." The Church has turned down the demand, saying it doesn't have the money.
Guerrillas in India's northeast commonly demand extortion money from tea garden owners, rich industrialists and reportedly even government officials.
Separatist rebels in the northeast have killed at least six Christian missionaries, mostly teachers, over the last five years.
"We cannot go on risking the lives of our priests and teachers," said George Plathottam, director of Don Bosco Communications in northeastern India.
There are at least two dozen separatist guerrilla groups in northeastern India demanding greater autonomy or secession from India. They accuse the federal government of exploiting the region's rich oil and mineral resources while neglecting the local economy.
Meanwhile, a leading Hindu monastic sect in the region has accused Christian missionaries of forcefully converting poor people to Christianity and aiding separatist insurgency in the region.
"Christian missionaries are luring people to their fold with money. Some Church leaders are also responsible for aiding and abetting insurgency in northeastern India," said sect leader Naryandeba Goswami.
The sect has created a fund of 10 million rupees ($1=INR47.00) to counter the efforts of the Christian missionaries to convert the poor, Goswami said.
The Church denies charges of forceful conversions and aiding militancy.
"We are as patriotic as anybody. We can never indulge in anything that can be detrimental to India's sovereignty and integrity," Plathottam said.