Pakistani police have arrested more than 100 people for attacking at least 21 churches and vandalizing hundreds of homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province following allegations that two Christian men had desecrated a copy of the Quran..Rioters in the thousands burned churches and vandalized homes in a Christian enclave in the city of Jaranwala Aug 16. Police arrived 10 hours later, residents and community leaders told Reuters..Usman Anwar, police chief of Punjab province, said intervention was minimal so that more lives would not be lost by raising tensions. Even so, 128 arrests were made, including two people believed to be organizers..Maria Lozano, head of press for the Catholic relief group Aid to the Church in Need International, said witnesses reported hearing the message "‘go out and kill’ Christians” on loudspeakers from a local mosque..Loranzo claimed 2,000 Christians had fled their homes and added, “the Christians are very scared” and “so many people have lost their belongings, everything. They don’t know what to do or where to go.”.Catholic bishops want stiff penalties for those who set 21 churches on fire, including an historic Salvation Army Church, according to UCA News..According to the BBC, the attacks began after Christians, Rocky Masih and Raja Masih, were arrested for blasphemy, a crime punishable by death in Pakistan..Allegedly torn pages of a Quran with blasphemous content were discovered near the Christian colony and taken to a local religious leader who urged Muslims to protest. After the burning spree, public gatherings were restricted for a week in the Faisalabad district that includes Jaranwala..According to the Christian Post, videos on social media show protesters destroying Christian buildings while police watch without intervening. The National Catholic Register said advance warning of the attacks prevented Christians from being killed. .“They broke the windows, doors, and took out fridges, sofas, chairs, and other household items to be burned,” Yassir Bhatti said..Mobs reportedly touted slogans in favor of the far-right Islamic extremist political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik and the Islamic group Khatam-e-Nabuwat. Pakistan is expected to hold general elections in the coming months..“We have once again been confronted with open hatred and uncontrollable rage shown towards the Christian community,” Archbishop Benny Travas of Karachi said in a statement submitted to Crux..The allegations don’t ring true to Travas..“I just cannot comprehend how my people would show disrespect to any religion or to any religious books,” he said..“We, as a Christian community, have time and again displayed our fidelity to the nation of Pakistan, yet incidents like the burning of Christian homes in Gojra, Shantinagar, Joseph Colony and now Jaranwala, show that we are in reality second-class citizens who can be terrorized and frightened at will.”.On Friday, Travas led a non-violent demonstration against the Jaranwala attacks at the Karachi Press Club. On Aug. 18, the bishops’ Commission for Interfaith Dialogue organized a similar protest in Hyderabad..A Sri Lankan man was killed for alleged blasphemy in 2019. Similar accusations prompted a group to burn down 60 homes in Punjab in 2009, killing six people. According to the Centre for Social Justice, more than 2,000 people in Pakistan have been accused of blasphemy since 1987 and 88 killed, though none by a formal state execution..Two recent bills in Pakistan’s Legislature have stirred concerns among Christian and civil society groups. The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023 increases punishment for blasphemy, while the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023 has been criticized as inadequate to safeguard minority rights..According to The New York Times, the British colonial rulers of the late 19th century enacted Pakistan’s first blasphemy laws to keep people of different faiths from fighting each other. Such laws were expanded in the 1980s under military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq..High-profile cases in recent years have kept the issue in the news. In 2011, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard for speaking out against the blasphemy laws..That same year, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy, sparking international outrage. She was acquitted in 2018 after eight years on death row. However, this sparked protests in the streets and prompted threats to kill the Supreme Court justices who set her free.
Pakistani police have arrested more than 100 people for attacking at least 21 churches and vandalizing hundreds of homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province following allegations that two Christian men had desecrated a copy of the Quran..Rioters in the thousands burned churches and vandalized homes in a Christian enclave in the city of Jaranwala Aug 16. Police arrived 10 hours later, residents and community leaders told Reuters..Usman Anwar, police chief of Punjab province, said intervention was minimal so that more lives would not be lost by raising tensions. Even so, 128 arrests were made, including two people believed to be organizers..Maria Lozano, head of press for the Catholic relief group Aid to the Church in Need International, said witnesses reported hearing the message "‘go out and kill’ Christians” on loudspeakers from a local mosque..Loranzo claimed 2,000 Christians had fled their homes and added, “the Christians are very scared” and “so many people have lost their belongings, everything. They don’t know what to do or where to go.”.Catholic bishops want stiff penalties for those who set 21 churches on fire, including an historic Salvation Army Church, according to UCA News..According to the BBC, the attacks began after Christians, Rocky Masih and Raja Masih, were arrested for blasphemy, a crime punishable by death in Pakistan..Allegedly torn pages of a Quran with blasphemous content were discovered near the Christian colony and taken to a local religious leader who urged Muslims to protest. After the burning spree, public gatherings were restricted for a week in the Faisalabad district that includes Jaranwala..According to the Christian Post, videos on social media show protesters destroying Christian buildings while police watch without intervening. The National Catholic Register said advance warning of the attacks prevented Christians from being killed. .“They broke the windows, doors, and took out fridges, sofas, chairs, and other household items to be burned,” Yassir Bhatti said..Mobs reportedly touted slogans in favor of the far-right Islamic extremist political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik and the Islamic group Khatam-e-Nabuwat. Pakistan is expected to hold general elections in the coming months..“We have once again been confronted with open hatred and uncontrollable rage shown towards the Christian community,” Archbishop Benny Travas of Karachi said in a statement submitted to Crux..The allegations don’t ring true to Travas..“I just cannot comprehend how my people would show disrespect to any religion or to any religious books,” he said..“We, as a Christian community, have time and again displayed our fidelity to the nation of Pakistan, yet incidents like the burning of Christian homes in Gojra, Shantinagar, Joseph Colony and now Jaranwala, show that we are in reality second-class citizens who can be terrorized and frightened at will.”.On Friday, Travas led a non-violent demonstration against the Jaranwala attacks at the Karachi Press Club. On Aug. 18, the bishops’ Commission for Interfaith Dialogue organized a similar protest in Hyderabad..A Sri Lankan man was killed for alleged blasphemy in 2019. Similar accusations prompted a group to burn down 60 homes in Punjab in 2009, killing six people. According to the Centre for Social Justice, more than 2,000 people in Pakistan have been accused of blasphemy since 1987 and 88 killed, though none by a formal state execution..Two recent bills in Pakistan’s Legislature have stirred concerns among Christian and civil society groups. The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023 increases punishment for blasphemy, while the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023 has been criticized as inadequate to safeguard minority rights..According to The New York Times, the British colonial rulers of the late 19th century enacted Pakistan’s first blasphemy laws to keep people of different faiths from fighting each other. Such laws were expanded in the 1980s under military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq..High-profile cases in recent years have kept the issue in the news. In 2011, the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was assassinated by his bodyguard for speaking out against the blasphemy laws..That same year, Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, was sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy, sparking international outrage. She was acquitted in 2018 after eight years on death row. However, this sparked protests in the streets and prompted threats to kill the Supreme Court justices who set her free.
