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Govt will check anti-Christian attacks, says Advani

Union Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani today assured the Lok Sabha that 'the government would not be found wanting' in checking the spate of attacks against Christians and other minority communities.

Replying to a question, he said the government had already expressed 'anguish' over the incidents and ordered the state governments to take stern action against the guilty, 'be it individuals or organisations.'

He told former Lok Sabha speaker Purno A Sangma that the sudden upsurge in onslaughts against the Christian community needed analysis. He said the year 1998 otherwise was free from major communal incidents.

He said the government had not come to any conclusion on the causes and pattern of attack against the Christians. He said he would prefer to wait for the findings of the Justice Wadhwa Commission inquiring into the incidents.

Advani said those found guilty by the commission would be punished. He clarified that the inquiry was confined to the killing of a foreign missionary and his two children in Orissa as the Union Cabinet wanted prompt unravelling of the violent incident.

UNI

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