Joe Pitts: “I rise to speak about human rights abuses in India today. As we may know, Christians and other religious minorities have…”

“I rise to speak about human rights abuses in India today. As we may know, Christians and other religious minorities have faced terrible persecution in India recently. In January, an extremist mob burned alive an Australian missionary and his two sons who were trapped in their car. This is not the first instance of persecution. Over Christmas, churches throughout India were burned and destroyed. Christians' homes were looted and stoned, and Christian individuals were attacked and stoned. In January, missionaries and seminary students were attacked and beaten with rods. Then just last week, an extremist Hindu group called Vishwa Hindu burned 150 Christian homes in Orissa's Gajapati District and terrorized the Christian community with homemade guns. Mr. Speaker, I urge the Indian government to take decisive action to stop this continuing violence and bring to justice those who have committed the crimes, and protect the rights of all minority religious believers in India.”