The minority Christian community in Manipur Valley, Northeast India, is calling for protection from being discriminated against by the dominant Muslims, Hindus and traditional religious groups. The All India Church Council (AICC) has organised a conference at the Manipur Baptist Church to discuss the rising cases of persecution and harassment of new Christian converts by local residents.

A hundred church leaders from different parts of the state, National Secretary for Public Affairs of the AICC Sam Paul and AICC’s North India Convener Moses Parmer gave presentations at the meeting.

According to New Karala, an Indian newspaper, the Manipur Valley is dominated by the Meitei who follow the ancient Meitei or Sanamahi religion, besides the Hindu religion. A major chunk of the population in the valley is occupied by a Muslim community identified as Pangals. There are over 64 villages occupied by the Kabui Nagas most of whom follow traditional religions. The hills surrounding Manipur are dominated by the Kuki and the Nagas who are mostly Christians.

However, a major religious crisis is being observed as there have been a large number of Meitei and Kabui Christians converts over the past few years. The minority Christian community living in the Hindu or Muslim cultural and social settings face many constraints when carrying out their religious activities. Funeral service and rituals appear to be the most common clash between Christians and their neighbourhood, reported by New Karala.

The Christian converts require a cemetery so that funeral service can be carried out following Christian rites. However, in the closely knitted villages dominated by those of non-Christian faith, many are unable to accept the construction of Churches and cemeteries.

During the conference which took place earlier this week, cases of alleged discrimination or persecution on Christian converts were raised, according to Calcutta Telegraph. Executive secretary of the Meitei Baptist Association, Rev. Devendra Singh, said local residents had not allowed the burial of a Meitei pastor’s father at Phumlou in Imphal (Manipur’s capital) West last year.

Sources from New Karala said that at Phumlou, some dead bodies of Christians were exhumed several times. After intervention from the government the dead bodies were buried again, however some of the bodies had been already taken out for three months.

At Thoubal district, the area of Manipur’s Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, another church leader alleged that local residents, mostly Hindus, had dismantled a church and warned off the Christians in the area against reconstructing it.

In response to all these allegations, Manipur’s Chief Minister Singh has firmly said that the Christian converts would be protected at all costs. "We are living in a secular country and all are free to advocate or practice whatever religion they want," he told members of the Manipur State Assembly on Saturday 19th March.

Nevertheless, on the Friday’s church leader conference, National Secretary for Public Affairs of the AICC Sam Paul has already declared that the council would highlight the problems being faced by the Christians in Manipur at the national and international levels through Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), a human rights concern group based in the UK.

Additionally, the AICC has refuted allegations levelled by non-Christian groups that people were being forcibly converted to Christianity in the Northeast or that foreign funds were flooding the region to lure people of other faiths into the Christian fold.