Christians in a northeastern Indian state staged a day-long hunger strike on Feb. 17 against the government’s move to impose an anti-conversion law, which they say is unconstitu-tional and anti-Christian.
The Arunachal Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act (APFRA) was introduced in 1978 to protect the traditional religious practices of indigenous communities from external influence or coercion. But it remained dormant for over 45 years as successive governments failed to frame the rules.
On Sept. 30 last year, the Gauhati High Court’s perma-nent bench in Arunachal Pra-desh’s capital Itanagar asked the state government to finalize the rules within six months. The directive came after a public interest litigation by a citizen against the government’s failure to enforce the law. Chief Mini-ster Pema Khandu on Feb. 15 said the rules being framed as per the court directive were not against any religion, but “to give some more protection to indigenous faiths.”
The Arunachal Christian Forum (ACF) said that “the draconian law is against the secular constitution of our country and is anti-Christian.” “It violates the right to freely profess, practice and propagate religion,” ACF President Tara Miri told on Feb. 18.The ACF, a multi-denominational body that organized the hunger strike in Itanagar, said Christians also held protests, across the state’s 29 districts throughout the week. “There are 46 Christian denominations in the state and their members organized their own protest marches, prayers and fasting programs at their respective places,” Miri said.