Orissa violence to be discussed at EU summit: Police terrorised, reports

The persecution of Christians in India will be a major topic discussed at the European Union (EU)–India Summit scheduled Sept. 29–30 in Paris.

Following the escalating violence against miniscule Christians in Orissa by Hindu fanatics, the Council of Foreign Ministers of the 27 EU member states decided this at a informal meeting in early September.

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini revealed to media that Italy raised the issue and other states agreed to place it on the agenda for the Summit.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, which currently holds the EU's rotating presidency, will lead the EU delegation, while Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will head the country's delagation to the summit.

The actions by Italy, and the European Union were sparked by widespread media coverage of the anti–Christian violence in Orissa. At least 40 have been reported killed and thousands forced to flee to forests and shift to relief camps.

Meanwhile, latest reports claim, hundreds of armed attackers stormed a police station and killed one police.

A group of 300 to 400 men attacked and set fire to the station in a pre–dawn raid in Orissa state's Gochapada village, said Gopal Chandra Nanda, the state's top police official.

The two dozen police at the post fled, but one was killed when the attackers fired at them, Chandra said. He said two police vehicles were set on fire.

The furious crowd was demonstrating against the death of four Hindu protesters in police shootings over the weekend after rioters tried to attack a church and the house of a Christian villager.

Tuesday's violence comes a day after Orissa's Home Secretary Tarun Kanti Mishra announced the state had asked the federal government for an additional 5,400 paramilitary troops to guard the affected areas until the end of October. Thousands of police and paramilitary troops already are deployed in the area.

The Orissa violence was triggered by the murder of Swami Lakhmananda Saraswati, a local figurehead of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), an extremist Hindu organisation. Ignoring a claim of responsibility from the Naxalites for the assassination, the VHP immediately accused Christians.