A vandalised church in Mangalore; (above) a Hindu protester places a flag atop an Orissa church. File pictures

New Delhi, Sept. 23: The Prime Minister’s Office has asked the National Commission for Minorities to hand in its report on the communal violence in Karnataka and Orissa “at the earliest”.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself called up the chairperson and asked him to go to Karnataka. We will finalise the report at tomorrow’s executive meeting and submit it to the PMO, which will mail the report to the PM,” a member of the minorities commission said.

Whether the Prime Minister made the call could not be confirmed with the PMO.

Singh is in the US for a four-and-a-half-day visit and the PMO wants to make sure he has “something to show” the western media when they ask him about the recent attacks on Christians in the two states, the panel member added.

The report would also be useful if President George W. Bush accepts the advice of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom and brings up the attacks in his meetings with the Prime Minister.

The religious freedom commission wrote a letter to Bush last Friday saying the “US government can and should urge the Indian central government to make more vigorous and effective efforts to stem violence against religious minority communities, ‘particularly Christians’.”

“As you meet next week with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom respectfully urges you to ask Prime Minister Singh to ensure the immediate security of Indian citizens — security that is undermined by recurrent attacks on religious minorities and communities,” the letter says.

The commission, a federal agency advising the administration and Congress, adds: “If India is to exercise global leadership as the largest and perhaps most pluralistic democracy in the world, Prime Minister Singh should demonstrate his government’s commitment to uphold the basic human rights obligations to which it has agreed, including the protection of religious minorities.”

The letter gives a detailed description of the recent attacks against Christians and says the Indian government’s response remains “inadequate”. “In our view, the severity and extent of these attacks warrant a national-level investigation and response,” it says.

Back home, the minorities commission is burning the midnight oil to finalise its report. “We have been asked by the PMO to submit our report at the earliest,” the commission member said.

The minorities commission, in its report, will describe the violence in Orissa and Karnataka as “gross human rights violation”.