India (MNN) — In the early hours of Monday morning, a new inferno of mob violence set communities ablaze in northeast India.
Hindu militants torched more than a hundred homes in one village. “These activists are coming in [to destroy villages], and they’ve got the support of the state; there’s some documented evidence of this,” John Pudaite of Bibles For The World says.
“That’s tragic when a government turns on its people.”
The latest violence began when the federal government appointed a three-member judicial commission to probe Manipur’s conflict. The unrest has claimed 98 lives since early May and forced over 45,000 people to run for their lives. See our coverage here.
“Our hospital has been treating the victims [since] the initial outbreaks of violence [began.] Our ambulance has been doing the rounds, running from camp to camp; [there are] 77 different [IDP] camps just in our district,” Pudaite says.
Many had to leave home without their medications. For example, “a lot had to flee without their insulin pen,” Pudaite says. Bibles For The World’s hospital meets medication needs and more.
“We’ve started to see diarrhea, dysentery, and things like that breaking out depending on the drinking water situation in the camps. Our hospital team has been treating all those patients free of cost.”
Bibles For The World also closed its seminary so that dozens of families could shelter in the dormitory. “We’ve put 140 [displaced people] into that dormitory, which has a capacity of 120,” Pudaite says.
“We’re providing food for the families as they come in and bringing their sick to the hospital.”
Pray for the men, women, and children who no longer have a safe place to call home and are living in refugee camps.
(Photo, caption courtesy of BFTW)
Pray for an end to the violence in Manipur. “We need God’s truth [and] peace to prevail; please join us in prayer for that,” Pudaite requests.
Send help through Bibles For The World here. Ask God to bless Bibles For The World’s decision-makers with wisdom and creativity.
“It’s been a tough situation for us to constantly reassess what is happening and where we can be involved to bring some hope and God’s love,” Pudaite says.
“We can’t come through the normal supply chain routes, so we’ve had to work through the back roads [to] get material into the IDP camps: medical equipment and supplies, rice, cooking oil, dahl, onions – everything.”
Header image courtesy of Bibles For The World.
