Cross-Cultural Ministry: India, with Threat of War

The two American wives are in the States for teaching English as a second language classes for about a month yet. That leaves three of us Americans (the two others having a taste of bachelor survival again. ;-) We are in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. It is a southern state. We're about 8 hours by train north of Madras - AKA Chennei - along the coastal plain.

The news we get here is not the news you get there. BBC world and CNN (the international version) have much more coverage of the tensions here than what gets filtered through to the States. Many have felt that war is imminent. I wouldn't be surprised if after some more build-up war did break out. The build-up is necessary first because the logistics here are horrendous.

There are over one million Indian soldiers at the border. Pakistan has been testing missles and now is moving more soldiers from Afghanistan's border to the one with India. BTW, the nuclear missiles that Pakistan has are mid-range and could probably hit Delhi or Bombay - AKA Mumbai. They would not, at present, be able to deliver missiles to the southern part of the country where we are. I also don't think that Guntur would be a high level target anyway. Pakistan has also *said* they don't think a conflict would turn nuclear. But what would be out of the question for westerners, isn't out of the question here. Going nuclear is more likely here than in almost any other part of the world.

There is a lot of internal pressure in India to declare war because of the constant terrorist attacks coming from Pakistan. (That is the view.) A prime example would be the terrorist attack on Parliament itself last December. . . . I also tend to think (cynical as it may be) that the current government would like to have the boost of nationalistic pride and support that comes along with a war. Popular wars boost the popularity of the leaders. The biggest effect the tensions have had on the church here so far is that a trip to another region of the country was postponed for the time being because there was too much distance between the "safe havens" of people we know.

We all have registered (or are in the process of registering) with the American consulate. . . . The Indian gospel workers seemed surprised that there was even the remote possibility that we might leave the country. I don't think that that will happen either, even if there is all out war in the north.

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