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All three staff—novice master Father Raphael Paliakara, 46, Father Andreas Kindo, 31, and Brother Shinu Joseph Valliparambil, 23—were shot dead, apparently by militants with automatic weapons on May 15.

The missionaries were of the Salesian novice house at Ngarian hills 20 miles from Imphal, capital of the state of Manipur. It and surrounding states have a complex ethnic mix and dozens of militant groups fighting for rights for their peoples.

"We are all extremely distressed," said Father Thomas Mulayinkal, Salesian superior of the province of Dimapur, which includes the novice house.

Mulayinkal said more than 5,000 people, including 200 priests and three bishops, attended the funeral at the Salesian seminary in Dimapur.

He said the militants "forced their way into the [novice house] putting an AK-47 rifle at the temple of the driver guarding the house, asking him to take them to the superior." Paliakara gave them 30,000 rupees (US$640) which he had in the house, but "they were not satisfied" and shot him. The assistant priest and the brother who rushed in on hearing the shots were also killed.

"Maybe they [the militants] are targeting and punishing us for refusing to heed to their extortion demands," said Mulayinkal.

Father Dominic Lumon, vicar general of the Catholic archdiocese of Imphal, said that in February eight Catholic schools in Imphal Valley decided "not to concede to the extortion demands" of militant groups who had recently demanded the schools pay 500,000 rupees (US$10,700) each.

"After a few days, our schools had to be closed for a month with militant groups refusing to allow us to function without meeting their demand," said Lumon. "It seems they are taking revenge on the church for defying them. They have attacked a house of prayer to show their resentment."

He said that almost everybody, including government officials, was "forced to make regular contributions" to ethnic militant groups.

He pointed out that Father Shajan Jacob, vice principal of a diocesan school in the region, was shot dead last December, and another diocesan priest survived a similar militant attack in February.

Local Christian schools had been looted by armed militants because of the church's reluctance to pay money demanded by militants.

"While Christians are being blamed by some [Hindu groups] for supporting insurgency in the north-east, the tragedy is that it is at the hands of the insurgents that Christian workers are being brutally murdered," the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) said in a statement following this week's murders.

Manipur is one of seven tiny states in India's northeast, which are home to a variety of ethnic groups. They nestle between Bangladesh, Butan, China, Nepal and Myanmar. The seven states have a total population of about 40 million.

While Christians account for only 20 percent of Manipur's 2.3 million people, three of the seven states in the northeast have Christian majorities. This is at the root of Hindu fundamentalist claims that Christian missionaries are assisting dozens of ethnic militant groups in the region.

"This [the triple murder] disproves the charge that Christian missionaries are supporting militant groups here. In fact, we are the first to oppose the extortion demands of the militants," said Father Lumon.

D. C. Haja Darnei, head of the Presbyterian Church in India, most of whose 900,000 members are in northeastern India, also condemned the murders. Darnei said, "it is time for the churches to come together and plan common strategy to deal with such a vital question. This type of extortion happens in many places."

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June (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45