NDTV.com: Kandhmal: Panic-stricken villagers hide in forests

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Updated: November 21, 2009 22:34 IST

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Kandhmal: Panic-stricken villagers hide in forests

Mohuya Chowdhury

Sunday, August 31, 2008, (Kandhamal)

Curfew has helped the cities in Kandhmal stay relatively calm. The interiors are still on the boil. The huge security presence, villagers say, is not making them feel safe. Instead, people from both communities -- Hindus and Christians -- hide in the forest every night fearing for their lives.

As night falls, families huddle together and make their way into the forest, as sporadic attacks continue. Ever since the murder of Swami Laxmanananda Saraswati, villagers have come to hide in the forests every night. They speak in hushed voices, and are afraid to be seen or heard.

It's a routine the villagers, a majority of them Pano Christians, follow everyday.

Prakash Digal, villager, says: "They burnt down the church. They also burnt our huts. They burnt all our clothes. There is no food. They are torturing us and now we live in the jungles."

Nearly 100 kilometres away, the same scene unfolds at a Hindu village. Terrified villagers say they don't want to return home. Many of the destroyed houses are still smouldering.

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