Bhubaneswar, Oct. 21: Archbishop of Cuttack and Bhubaneswar Raphael Cheenath today asked the state government to exercise its “political will” and act according to the Constitution and the law.

“Orissa’s people know who the assailants are. There is no secret. What the state needs is not an inquiry, but political will to do what is right in accordance with the Constitution and the law of the land,” said Cheenath.

The religious head also expressed lack of confidence in the judicial commissions appointed by the state government to probe into the Kandhamal violence.

“I am profoundly distressed by the fact that chief minister Naveen Patnaik did not consult the victim community before deciding on the commission heads,” said the Archbishop in a statement, circulated in the city today.

“The least that is expected from the government is that it take the victim community into confidence, so that the commissions of inquiries are headed by persons who are, in the perception of the victim community, both independent and strong-willed enough to hold the officers of the state responsible. The present appointments have been made in haste disregarding the point of view of the victim communities,” he said.

The government has appointed a commission of inquiry headed by Justice S.C. Mohapatra, a retired high court judge and former Lokpal, to probe into the violence that flared up after August 23 in the state after the murder of Laxananda Saraswati.

Earlier, Justice Basudev Panigrahi Commission of Inquiry had been appointed to probe into the violence that occurred in the same district in December 2007.

Describing the victims’ experience before Justice Basudev Panigrahi Commission as “demoralising”, the Archbishop said that the Christian community is seeking the adjournment of the hearing for two months. “Victims went without food, houses were burnt, people were killed and all these points were brought before the Panigrahi panel with a request to keep the commission in abeyance until matters settled down. The request was refused,” lamented the church head, who is away in New Delhi.

“This leads me to the conclusion that the panel is interested in covering up the misdeeds of the government and police, rather than identify organisations and individuals behind the attacks,” he said.

Referring to notice issued by Justice S.C. Mohapatra commission to file affidavits by November 15, the Archbishop observed: “Such a formal approach displays an insensitivity to the suffering of the victims.”

“There is, of late, a distressing tendency to avoid naming culprits and to waste time by appointing commissions with pliant persons heading them to get political mileage by stigmatising minorities. This strategy will not work for long,” he said.