Hindu extremist threats have driven a pastor in Nepal into hiding following a leak onto social media of a restricted audience-interview he gave on his journey to Christ, sources said.

Pastor Sukdev Giri of Trinity Fellowship Church in Chitwan District has received death threats, he said. He has changed his phone number, but his family and friends are also receiving threatening calls, he told Morning Star News.

In a sign of how the Himalayan country has become increasingly radicalized, Pastor Giri, 59, has been unable to return home from ministry travels since a video of his comments hit YouTube in mid-August.

“It is the first time a Christian [in Nepal] has been targeted for sharing [on social and other media] about his past religion and introduction into Christianity,” legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom’s allied attorney in Nepal, Ganesh Sreshta, told Morning Star News. “It is turning out to be a high-profile issue, with Hindu fundamentalist groups linked to prominent political leaders taking interest in this video.”

The video shot in March at the International Christian Media Workers Summit in Kathmandu, where Pastor Giri was one of the speakers on a panel, was available only to Christian audiences until a Nepalese Christian woman abroad posted it on YouTube.

During the panel presentation on advice for Christian media workers, Nepalese radio journalist Sunil Raj Lama asked Pastor Giri to talk more about belief systems in Nepal.

“It is not something I would discuss with anybody just anywhere, but his question was very genuine,” Pastor Giri told Morning Star News. “Although I had cautioned Lama to edit the video and not to circulate it outside the Christian circle, the [Christian] persons who were the first to watch it on a private channel insisted that, ‘It is a hard truth – people need to hear it.”’

The unidentified Nepalese woman abroad who had access to the private channel posted the video on YouTube on Aug. 11, and the flood of hostile comments began.

Nasreen was depressed after a stroke left her husband paralyzed on his right side three years ago. Her youngest son took up his father’s job as a mason in the Catholic village of Mariamabad in Pakistan’s Punjab province.

“Suddenly our sole breadwinner became bedridden. The loans kept climbing. I felt helpless as an unskilled housewife,” the 46-year-old mother of five told ucanews.com.

That was until Lahore Arch-diocese announced that the 70th annual pilgrimage to the National Marian Shrine in Mariamabad would be held from Sept. 13-15 under the theme “St Mary: The woman of dialogue.”

More than a million devotees and young people from all over Pakistan travelled to the shrine on foot, by bicycle or in vehicles to pray and intercede with the Blessed Mother for special favours. They lit candles and incense sticks and covered the statue of the Blessed Mother with colourful embroidered dupattas (long scarves).

In keeping with tradition, thousands of Muslims also expressed their personal devotion to Mary, whom the Quran honours as the mother of Jesus, considered a prophet. The non-stop processions head toward a grotto that is a replica of the one in Lourdes, France.

An area in front of the Church of St Mary and St Joseph was allocated for a weekend market. The selection of goods and services included Christian gifts, souvenirs, gospel CDs, toys, clothing, food, beverages and even tattoo parlours.

The head of the Jesuits in South Asia has called for a new South Asian Association of Regional Corporation that encourages greater economic exchanges and more socio-political harmony.

South Asia like rest of the world currently witnesses “an upsurge of the right-wing, with a lethal combination of nationalism and religion, the ongoing weakening of democratic processes and the apathy of the youth for social concerns,” says Father George Pattery, president of the Jesuit Conference of South Asia.

He was addressing the opening session of a two-day program to celebrate the 50 years of Jesuit commitment to social justice and reconciliation. Around 220 Jesuit social activists and their collaborators are attending the September 26-27 program at Navjeevan Renewal Center in Old Delhi.

The Jesuits in Social Action and the Vidyajyoti College of Theology, joint organizers of the program, terms it as convention to “walk with the poor, the outcastes of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice.”

“Across the world there is an upsurge of the right-wing, with a lethal combination of nationalism and religion, the ongoing weakening of democratic processes and the apathy of the youth for social concerns. “And the young man went away sad because he was a man of riches’- the world seems to have been numbed into sadness of the plenty of the rich!”

South Asia is no exception. Majoritarian religious nationalism, the near-total compliance of the media to the desires of the ruling Govt, the populist methods over-ridding true democratic processes and the mob rule with the silent condoning by the Govts mark our situation today. While Sri Lanka is struggling with the terrorist threats, Bangladesh and Pakistan are on thin democratic threads, Afghanistan remain uncertain about its future. We, Jesuits of South Asia have to begin to dream of a South Asia, cradle of many religions and cultures, to grow into a credible socio-political entity to bring in fresh thinking. As Fr Arthuro Sosa said to us: “I want South Asian Jesuits to be players in international relations and peace initiative in S. Asia.” Fr George Pattery said.