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India asks 10 US Christian missionaries to leave

NEW DELHI (AFP) -- The Indian government has asked 10 Christian missionaries from the United States to leave the country by Sunday, a Press Trust of India report said on Friday.

The report did not name the church in the southern city of Madurai where the missionaries worked, but said the order for them to leave India was issued by the Union Home Ministry in New Delhi.

They were told to pack their bags as they did not renew their visa papers in time.

Officials in the US embassy here were not immediately available to comment on the development, the first involving American priests working in India in recent years.

Madurai district administrator Mani Bharathi, however, said the marching orders came when the missionaries did not present themselves before the local police for the renewal of their travel papers.

The missionaries told PTI that they were "disappointed" by the directive and that they would leave for Sri Lanka and return in case the issue was settled with the Indian government.

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