[nukkad] Who are fundamentalists?

["Hemendra Bhanushali" <>]

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Hi Friends,
    A related news about discussion going about Fundamentalism.
http://in.news.yahoo.com/010807/6/12ikz.html
 same article is included in this mail.

Enjoy!
Hemendra
The one who is enjoying.


Tuesday August 7, 6:49 AM

Indian tribal vigilantes claim forced conversions by rebels
JIRANIA, India, Aug 7 (AFP) -
Tribal Hindus in India's northeastern state of Tripura have formed vigilante
groups, claiming attempts by separatist militants to convert people at
gunpoint to Christianity.

Rampada Jamatia, a leader of the Jamatia tribal community, told AFP that the
forced conversions were being carried out by the outlawed National
Liberation Front of Tripura (NLFT).

"We believe up to 5,000 tribal villagers were coerced into converting to
Christianity by the NLFT during the past couple of years," Jamatia said in
Jirania, 25 kilometers (15 miles) east of Tripura's capital Agartala.

The charge is hotly denied by Church leaders in the state.

Tribals constitute about 30 percent of Tripura's 3.2 million people, who are
mainly Hindu, with Christians comprising around 10 percent.

Community chiefs and religious heads of 19 tribes, who met recently, formed
a platform called the Tribal Culture Protection Committee to counter the
perceived militant threat.

"The committee will discuss ways and means on how best to tackle the threat
to our religion and culture, besides lobbying the local government to ensure
protection for the religious rights of the tribespeople," Bikram Bahadur
Jamatia, a tribal chieftain, told AFP.

Village elders and youths in some militant-infested areas patrol the streets
round-the-clock with clubs, bows and arrows, and other crude implements, to
scare away NLFT rebels from entering their hamlets.

The majority-Christian NLFT, fighting for an independent tribal homeland
since 1989, has of late issued diktats to Hindu villagers against
celebrating any religious festivals.

"The NLFT has been trying to foment communal and sectarian tension between
the tribal and non-tribal population in Tripura, a trend that has dangerous
portents," a senior police official said requesting anonymity.

Church leaders deny any campaign of forcible conversions.

"In fact, a number of our priests and missionaries have been the target of
attacks by unidentified miscreants over the past couple of years," a senior
Roman Catholic leader in Tripura said.

"We cannot, however, vouch on behalf of the NLFT which is a rebel group."

The genesis of insurgency in Tripura can be traced back to the massive
influx of Bengali-speaking refugees when East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) was
created during partition in 1947.

The indigenous tribal people, who accounted for 95 percent of the Tripura
population in the 1931 census, now account for just 30 percent.

"This change in the demographic pattern had led to serious discontent among
the tribal population who have become a minority in their own land," Bijoy
Hrangkhawl, former chief of the separatist Tripura National Volunteers
(TNV), told AFP.

"Most of the militants come from impoverished tribal families who have lost
their land to Bengali migrants, giving rise to a sense of deprivation and
injustice that fuels the present insurgencies in Tripura," he added.

The motives attributed to the NLFT's alleged conversion drive are many and
various.

Some believe it is a manifestation of their quest for an identity separate
from the state's Bengali speakers, while others allege the rebels are
receiving financial aid from missionary groups.

Radical Hindu religious groups have long accused Christian missionaries of
forced conversions and boosting secessionist campaigns in the area.

More than 10,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Tripura,
bordering Bangladesh, during the past two decades.




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