Another missionary murdered in Orissa

This is the third incident in which a person of the minority community has been murdered in the border areas of Keonjhar and Mayurbhanj districts. Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were killed in Manoharpur on January 22. And a Muslim youth, Sheikh Rehman of Padiabeda, was hacked to death last week.

Ironically, the incident occurred a few hours after the ruling Congress and several other political parties had observed a statewide bandh to protest against continuing attacks on theminorities. Like the previous two incidents, the latest killing occurred close to a Hindu festival, Janmashtami. The Staines killing had occurred on Saraswati Puja while Rehman was killed on Raksha Bandhan. No arrest had been made so far.

Tripathy said that a group of persons, armed with bows and arrows, raided the village where Doss was camping and killed him at about 2 am.

Incidentally, Dara Singh, the prime suspect in the Staines murder is still at large with the police attributing the Rehman murder to him. In fact, state DGP Dilip Kumar Mohapatra had said last Sunday that Dara Singh had escaped the police dragnet with the support of local villagers. And since the terrain was hilly, it was difficult for the police to track him down.

Prime Minister A B Vajpayee has urged the state government to show its efficiency and capability in arresting the killers, irrespective of their affiliation. It was 8220;extremely distressing8221; that such murderous attacks on representatives of a minority community should betaking place unchecked and with alarming regularity in Orissa, he said.

Rather than extracting political capital out of such incidents on election eve, all parties and social organisations should join together to prevent such incidents, Vajpayee said.

Most Opposition parties believe that Dara Singh, who was responsible for the Staines8217; killings, has close links with the BJP8217;s affiliate organisation, the Bajrang Dal.

Archbishop of Delhi Alan de Lastic urged the Central and state governments to take urgent steps to apprehend the guilty. 8220;We are distressed that such crime continues despite assurances by both Central and state governments that adequate steps are being taken to ensure safety and security of the minority communities,8221; he wrote to the Prime Minister.

The Government, he said, should act immediately act to prevent the recurrence of such macabre violence targeted at intimidating the minority communities.

The BJP, armed with the recent 8220;clean chit8221; from the Wadhwa Commission of inquirywhich exonerated the party and its affiliates from any complicity in the killing of Staines and his two children, was quick to demand the 8220;immediate resignation of the Congress government in Orissa8221;.

Party vice-president K J Krishnamurthi claimed the BJP had been alerting the people against the callousness and failure of the Congress government in Orissa and demanding the arrest of criminals like Dara Singh, warning that inaction would result in further violence. 8220;Our warning has come true,8221; he said.