A frontranking pro-India Congressman ... Rep Gary Ackerman, New York Democrat and chairman of the Congressional Caucus on India ... warned that "unless the Government of India does act firmly, showing the whole world that it won't tolerate attacks against religious minorities, New Delhi may have serious problems on the Hill. Not merely image problems but legislative sanctions as well."

He said the "attacks on Christians will emerge as a new rallying cry for those who have been against better US-India relations" and noted, "these attacks have given a new weapon to India baiters on Capitol Hill." ..

Ackerman lamented that "something of late has gone wrong, and this worries me and my colleagues in the House. The secular credentials of India have received a rather rude jolt in recent days." ...

Ackerman declared, "There is no excuse for such ghastly acts as religious intolerance. The cold-blooded killing of a Christian missionary and his two small children in the state of Orissa must be condemned in the strongest fashion."

"It is shocking to know there are some people, albeit a small minority in a secular and tolerant country who commit murder and other despicable acts in the name of religion," he said, adding, "we denounce such acts strongly when they occur in the United States and we must denounce them when they happen in India." ...

Ackerman urged Vajpayee "and his colleagues to act as decisively as he has pledged to put an end to this reckless display of religious bigotry. We cannot allow India's good name to be besmirched by violent acts of hate-mongers ... Ackerman's sentiments were echoed by Senator Paul Sarbanes, Democrat from Maryland ... (Source: The Pioneer, 31 January, 1999)

Mathew Strozier's Report Washington-based Freedom House leading US human rights group has announced that it will send an official to India to look into recent attacks against Christians in Gujarat.

Nina Shea, director of the Centre for Religious Freedom, part of Freedom House ... said (the official) will also look into whether there was any government involvement in the attacks ...

Freedom House is just one of the many human rights and Christian organisations in the US, now turning attention to India. A prominent rights organisation Human Rights Watch sent a letter to Congress this week about the anti-Christian incidents.

If the attacks continue, warns Shea, India could suffer sanctions under the International Religious Freedom Act which was passed by the US Congress last year. The law sets out a serious of sanctions - from official reprimands to trade embargoes ... (Source: The Pioneer, 10 January, 1999)