Pakistan crowd vandalises churches, torches homes after two accused of blasphemy
Mubasher Bukhari and Asif Shahzad
Updated Wed, August 16, 2023
By Mubasher Bukhari and Asif Shahzad
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Muslim crowd attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, vandalising several churches and setting scores of houses on fire after accusing two of its members of desecrating the Koran, police and community leaders said.
The attack took place in Jaranwala in the industrial district of Faisalabad, police spokesman Naveed Ahmad said. The two Christians were accused of blasphemy, he said, adding they and family members had fled their homes.
Resident Shakil Masih said he heard announcements inciting the mob and then saw crowds heading towards his Christian area.
"I left my home immediately with my family. Several other families did the same," he told Reuters.
The area has been cordoned off as police negotiated with the crowd, provincial police chief Usman Anwar told English Dawn.com online publication.
The police case against the two Christians is that they found pages of the Koran with some derogatory remarks written in red.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan and though no one has ever been executed for it, numerous accused people have been lynched by outraged crowds.
A former provincial governor and a minister for minorities have also been shot dead because of blasphemy accusations.
Rights groups say accusations of blasphemy are also misused to settle scores. Hundreds of people are languishing in prison after being accused as judges often put off trials, fearing retribution if they are seen as being too lenient, they say.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar called for stern action against those responsible for Wednesday's violence. "I am gutted by the visuals coming out," he said.
Hundreds of people blocked a nearby highway to protest against the alleged desecration of the Koran.
A Christian leader, Akmal Bhatti, said the crowd had "torched" at least five churches and looted valuables from houses that had been abandoned by their owners.
Several social media posts showed some churches, houses and belongings on fire as police stood by.
The mob was made up of thousands of people led by local clerics, mainly from an Islamist political party called Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a government source said.
The TLP, however, denied inciting the violence and said it had worked with police to try to calm things down.
(Writing and additional reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Nick Macfie)
Mob burns Pakistani churches, vandalises cemetery over alleged blasphemy
AFP
Wed, August 16, 2023
View of a burnt church on the outskirts of Faisalabad, Pakistan, on August 16, 2023, following an attack by Muslim men after Christians were accused of blasphemy (Ghazanfar MAJID)
Hundreds of Muslim men set fire to churches and vandalised Christian homes during a rampage in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, after Christians were accused of blasphemy.
The mob made its way through a predominantly Christian area on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad after allegations spread that the Koran had been desecrated.
"The crowd inflicted heavy damage on the area including to homes of Christians, and many churches," Ahad Noor, a district government official, told AFP.
Police and rescue officials said at least four churches had been set on fire, while residents said as many as a dozen buildings with church status had been damaged.
Several thousand police have been sent to secure the area and dozens of people detained, Amir Mir, the information minister for Punjab province, said in a statement that also condemned the alleged blasphemy.
Yasir Bhatti, a 31-year-old Christian, fled his home in a narrow alley next to one of the churches that was ransacked by the mob.
"They broke the windows, doors and took out fridges, sofas, chairs and other household items to pile them up in front of the Church to be burnt. They also burnt and desecrated Bibles, they were ruthless," he told AFP by phone.
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty.
Pakistani bishop Azad Marshall, in the neighbouring city of Lahore, said the Christian community was "deeply pained and distressed" by the events.
"We cry out for justice and action from law enforcement and those who dispense justice and the safety of all citizens to intervene immediately and assure us that our lives are valuable in our own homeland," he posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
- 'Failure to protect minorities' -
Images on social media showed crowds of people armed with sticks and rocks storming through the streets, with smoke rising from church buildings.
In one video, crowds cheer and demand punishment for the accused blasphemers as a cross is torn from the top of a church.
The boundary walls of a Christian cemetery were vandalised, as well as the local government office, as crowds demanded action from the authorities, police said.
Local Muslim leaders used mosque loudspeakers to urge their followers to demonstrate, according to videos posted on social media.
"Christians have desecrated the Holy Koran. All the clerics, all the Muslims should unite and gather in front of the mosque. Better to die if you don't care about Islam," one cleric is heard saying.
A police report said charges would be filed against two Christian men who have fled the area.
Christians, who make up around two percent of the population, occupy one of the lowest rungs in Pakistani society and are frequently targeted with spurious and unfounded blasphemy allegations that can be used to settle personal vendettas.
Islamist right-wing leaders and political parties across Pakistan frequently rally around the issue, while politicians have been assassinated, European countries threatened with nuclear annihilation and students lynched over accusations of blasphemy.
"The frequency and scale of such attacks -- which are systematic, violent and often uncontainable -- appear to have increased in recent years," The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said on Wednesday.
"Not only has the state failed to protect its religious minorities, but it has also allowed the far right to permeate and fester within society and politics."
Christian woman Asia Bibi was at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row in Pakistan, which eventually saw her death sentence overturned and she was later allowed to leave the country.
Her case sparked violent demonstrations and high-profile assassinations while spotlighting religious extremism across wide sections of Pakistani society.
Pakistan's newly appointed caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on X that he was "gutted" by what was happening: "Stern action would be taken against those who violate law and target minorities."
kf-ak/ecl/qan
Updated Wed, August 16, 2023
By Mubasher Bukhari and Asif Shahzad
LAHORE, Pakistan (Reuters) - A Muslim crowd attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, vandalising several churches and setting scores of houses on fire after accusing two of its members of desecrating the Koran, police and community leaders said.
The attack took place in Jaranwala in the industrial district of Faisalabad, police spokesman Naveed Ahmad said. The two Christians were accused of blasphemy, he said, adding they and family members had fled their homes.
Resident Shakil Masih said he heard announcements inciting the mob and then saw crowds heading towards his Christian area.
"I left my home immediately with my family. Several other families did the same," he told Reuters.
The area has been cordoned off as police negotiated with the crowd, provincial police chief Usman Anwar told English Dawn.com online publication.
The police case against the two Christians is that they found pages of the Koran with some derogatory remarks written in red.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan and though no one has ever been executed for it, numerous accused people have been lynched by outraged crowds.
A former provincial governor and a minister for minorities have also been shot dead because of blasphemy accusations.
Rights groups say accusations of blasphemy are also misused to settle scores. Hundreds of people are languishing in prison after being accused as judges often put off trials, fearing retribution if they are seen as being too lenient, they say.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar called for stern action against those responsible for Wednesday's violence. "I am gutted by the visuals coming out," he said.
Hundreds of people blocked a nearby highway to protest against the alleged desecration of the Koran.
A Christian leader, Akmal Bhatti, said the crowd had "torched" at least five churches and looted valuables from houses that had been abandoned by their owners.
Several social media posts showed some churches, houses and belongings on fire as police stood by.
The mob was made up of thousands of people led by local clerics, mainly from an Islamist political party called Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a government source said.
The TLP, however, denied inciting the violence and said it had worked with police to try to calm things down.
(Writing and additional reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad; Editing by Angus MacSwan and Nick Macfie)
Mob burns Pakistani churches, vandalises cemetery over alleged blasphemy
AFP
Wed, August 16, 2023
View of a burnt church on the outskirts of Faisalabad, Pakistan, on August 16, 2023, following an attack by Muslim men after Christians were accused of blasphemy (Ghazanfar MAJID)
Hundreds of Muslim men set fire to churches and vandalised Christian homes during a rampage in eastern Pakistan on Wednesday, officials said, after Christians were accused of blasphemy.
The mob made its way through a predominantly Christian area on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad after allegations spread that the Koran had been desecrated.
"The crowd inflicted heavy damage on the area including to homes of Christians, and many churches," Ahad Noor, a district government official, told AFP.
Police and rescue officials said at least four churches had been set on fire, while residents said as many as a dozen buildings with church status had been damaged.
Several thousand police have been sent to secure the area and dozens of people detained, Amir Mir, the information minister for Punjab province, said in a statement that also condemned the alleged blasphemy.
Yasir Bhatti, a 31-year-old Christian, fled his home in a narrow alley next to one of the churches that was ransacked by the mob.
"They broke the windows, doors and took out fridges, sofas, chairs and other household items to pile them up in front of the Church to be burnt. They also burnt and desecrated Bibles, they were ruthless," he told AFP by phone.
Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty.
Pakistani bishop Azad Marshall, in the neighbouring city of Lahore, said the Christian community was "deeply pained and distressed" by the events.
"We cry out for justice and action from law enforcement and those who dispense justice and the safety of all citizens to intervene immediately and assure us that our lives are valuable in our own homeland," he posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
- 'Failure to protect minorities' -
Images on social media showed crowds of people armed with sticks and rocks storming through the streets, with smoke rising from church buildings.
In one video, crowds cheer and demand punishment for the accused blasphemers as a cross is torn from the top of a church.
The boundary walls of a Christian cemetery were vandalised, as well as the local government office, as crowds demanded action from the authorities, police said.
Local Muslim leaders used mosque loudspeakers to urge their followers to demonstrate, according to videos posted on social media.
"Christians have desecrated the Holy Koran. All the clerics, all the Muslims should unite and gather in front of the mosque. Better to die if you don't care about Islam," one cleric is heard saying.
A police report said charges would be filed against two Christian men who have fled the area.
Christians, who make up around two percent of the population, occupy one of the lowest rungs in Pakistani society and are frequently targeted with spurious and unfounded blasphemy allegations that can be used to settle personal vendettas.
Islamist right-wing leaders and political parties across Pakistan frequently rally around the issue, while politicians have been assassinated, European countries threatened with nuclear annihilation and students lynched over accusations of blasphemy.
"The frequency and scale of such attacks -- which are systematic, violent and often uncontainable -- appear to have increased in recent years," The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said on Wednesday.
"Not only has the state failed to protect its religious minorities, but it has also allowed the far right to permeate and fester within society and politics."
Christian woman Asia Bibi was at the centre of a decade-long blasphemy row in Pakistan, which eventually saw her death sentence overturned and she was later allowed to leave the country.
Her case sparked violent demonstrations and high-profile assassinations while spotlighting religious extremism across wide sections of Pakistani society.
Pakistan's newly appointed caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said on X that he was "gutted" by what was happening: "Stern action would be taken against those who violate law and target minorities."
kf-ak/ecl/qan
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