JABALPUR, India (UCAN) -- Christians in Madhya Pradesh have presented a memorandum to the state government urging it to check anti-Christian violence and to repeal a law regulating religious conversions.

Indira Iyengar, a Catholic member of the state's Minority Commission, led the seven-member delegation to meet Chief Minister Babulal Guar on Aug. 4.

The memorandum urges the government to scrap a 1969 law that allows government intervention in religious conversions. It also seeks protection for Christians and their institutions, and demands the government's recognition of and support for Christian social services. The memorandum also requests the government to withdraw a report by a state-appointed committee that concluded the conversion of tribal people is the cause of violence against Christians.

The pro-Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian people's party), rules the state. In February 2004, it appointed a one-man commission to probe violence against Christians in Jhabua, a tribal-dominated region. The violence, which involved Hindu extremists, erupted in January 2004 after a 9-year-old girl's body was found inside a Catholic school compound. Some Christians, including priests and nuns, were injured. Jhabua is 950 kilometers south of New Delhi.

Iyengar told UCA News that the chief minister gave her delegation "a patient hearing to all it wanted say" and assured cooperation. Guar reportedly asked her to meet him again on Aug. 7 to discuss the conversion law and the report of the government committee.

The delegation met the chief minister two days after Christians in the state organized a prayer meeting and fast for repeal of the anti-conversion law. About 1,500 Christians from all denominations attended the daylong program in Bhopal, the state capital, 745 kilometers south of New Delhi.

In addressing the gathering, Archbishop Pascal Topno of Bhopal, who heads the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, lamented use of the anti-conversion law as a tool to harass Christians. Christians would "never take sword or pistol" against those persecuting them, the Jesuit archbishop said, but "we make them friends through our sincere love and service" and pray for them.

Bishop Gerald Almeida of Jabalpur, who also attended the program with seven other bishops of the region, stressed in his talk that "unity is strength." He also noted a growing awareness among Christian communities "for unity."

Father Anand Muttungal, spokesperson of the Catholic Church in Madhya Pradesh, said in a press release that the state has recently seen "a steep rise" in attacks on Christians. "The existing anti-conversion law is being used as a tool to persecute Christians," he pointed out. Father Muttungal also said he wants the government to release 15 Christians detained for the murder of a Hindu in 2004. They remain in jail after they were denied bail.

Iyengar described the prayer meeting and fast as "a big success." She said it was a rare occasion in which "members of all denominations stood together with no sign of differences." It also showed people of other faiths that "the Church is different" because it prays for "enemies rather than hating them."

Robin Raj, a layperson who fasted and prayed the whole day with others, told UCA News that the government does not see "the good services rendered by the Church." He also said he rejects the government committee's conclusion that the Church was involved in forceful conversion. Daniel John, president of Bhopal's Catholic Association, told UCA News only prayer can solve the problems that Christians face in Madhya Pradesh.

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