International Christian Concern (ICC) made the announcement as India's Christian community marks the ninth anniversary of the deadly 2008 anti-Christian Orissa riots. The riots are widely considered to be the worst incident of Christian persecution in India's independent history.
In August 2008, anti-Christian mob violence swept across the Kandhamal District of India's Odisha State, then known as Orissa, after Christians were wrongly blamed for the assassination of Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Lakshmanananda Saraswati.
After three months of violence, at least 91 Christians were killed, many hacked to death by axes and machetes, and at least three Christian women were gang raped. Additionally, nearly 56,000 people were displaced, forced to flee into the forests, as mobs burned down more than 5,600 houses, 300 churches, and other Christian institutions.
ICC said despite the passage of nine years, the lives of many Christians affected by the violence remain shattered by fear and injustice.
Pastor Pradeep Nayak, a Christian survivor of the 2008 violence, told ICC: "We are still in terror, not feeling safe. At every corner of the market we feel something is going against Christians."
Pastor Raj Kishore, a Christian who survived the violence, told ICC: "It was [the] most terrifying day of my life.
"I saw big flames and thick smoke coming out of a neighbouring village. We had to run away knowing that the next target [was] our village.
"We walked 40 kilometres through the thickest forest in the dark night with my 20-days-old son and my wife to reach a town nearby."
ICC reports that many Christians displaced by the violence have been unable to return to their home villages due to threats and a lack of government assistance.
William Stark, ICC's Regional Manager said many people have yet to receive justice due to discrimination and poor police work following the riots.
He added: "In many cases, Christians driven from their homes by mobs in 2008 are still unable to return to their villages unless they agree to convert to Hinduism."
He urged the Indian government must do more to provide justice to the victims and "take greater steps to rebuild the lives that were devastated by the violence nine years ago."
