Mr. Stanly Sam:

My final thoughts would be that here in Ireland, on a Sunday morning, we have the freedom to go to church, but in certain places in India, people are afraid to even go to church because they do not know what is going to happen. The moment people are in a church, perpetrators will come in and start attacking and beating, then beat the pastors and set the church buildings on fire. Christians will probably call the police, who will come and do nothing, basically, because the judiciary and the police are all part of the government. If the police want to take any kind of action, they will probably be moved from that place to another place, and they have that fear of being transferred. The voice of the Christians is basically helpless. They do not know where to turn because the Government does not help and if the matter goes to court, the court will support the perpetrators. If there is an attack, the police will come and arrest the pastor and the believers instead of the perpetrators. That is what generally happens. Most of the cities are fine, but in rural areas it is very bad. People cannot even go out and if they come back from church, they are beaten, attacked or blackmailed.

As Mr. Turner said, we ask the committee to engage with the ambassador of India. If the committee can put forward our concerns and seek action, that would be good.