Pakistan Muslim Mob Attacks Christian Churches
Jaranwala Church Attacks Another Example of the Misuse of Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan
Pakistan’s Christians still feel unsafe!
As in so many cases in the past, the blasphemy accusations at the heart of the violence apparently stemmed from a personal grudge.
On August 16, just two days after Independence Day celebrations, several hundred of muslim people attacked a Christian settlement in Faisalabad district, Punjab province of Pakistan.
A total of 19 churches were fully gutted and 89 Christian houses burnt down.
It further said over 400 houses were affected in total with 89 Christian houses including those of pastors and priests being completely gutted while 15 houses were partially destroyed.
A muslim mob allegedly led by fundamentalist political group Tehreek-e-Labbaik unleashed its fury on the Christian settlements in the Jaranwala area of Faisalabad district of Punjab – Pakistan.
In blasphemy cases against minorities, it has never been proven if someone ever truly committed blasphemy. But never the accusers have been brought to justice.
The same situation was seen in Sawan Masih’s case of Joseph Colony, who spent 7 years in jail while the accuser never has been asked on that level why he accused falsely. In Rimsha’s case, even the religious cleric Hafiz Muhammad Khalid was proven guilty that he did trap Rimsha in a blasphemy case, but the court gave him relief. Asia Bibi was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was released in 2018 after a Supreme Court decision proving her innocent but her accusers have never been questioned on those levels.
The same incidents would be repeated as in 2021 when a Sri Lankan national was burnt alive.
In 2014 Kot Radha Kishan Kasur a couple was burnt alive. In 2013 Joseph Colony Lahore attacked burnt houses and churches.
The 2010 attack on Warispura Faisalabad destroyed houses, churches and shops. In 2009 Gojra and Korian attack destroyed and burnt houses and churches including 7 people were burnt alive.
In 2005 the Christians of Sangla Hill were attacked leaving Christian families devastated. In 1997 Shantinagar village was attacked, houses and Churches were burnt to ashes and now a Jaranwala incident.
Christians in Pakistan, comprising less than 2 percent of the population or about 3 million people, have long lived under a shadow of fear. Across the country, most of them live in sheer poverty, consigned to menial roles such as sanitation, agricultural labor, and other low-wage jobs.
Pakistani Christians are often faced with derogatory reminders: accusations that their faith is misguided, their Bible is tainted and obsolete, and Jesus was merely a prophet who did not die on the cross. Thus, the use of the cross as a Christian symbol is viewed as a misrepresentation. Additionally, church music, deemed haram or forbidden to most Pakistanis, is often mockingly likened to dancing in a pub.
While such prejudices have been constant in her life, Mumtaz was particularly concerned if the attack was a reprisal following the Quran burning in Sweden. Since this incident in June, several instances of communal tension had taken place especially in Sargodha, a district about 200 kilometers from Lahore and each time, cases were lodged against Christians under Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
In the past few years, the hardline Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) has emerged as one of the main political parties, in the aftermath of Asia Bibi’s blasphemy acquittal and the execution of policeman Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated Salman Taseer, then governor of Punjab, who had supported her release in 2010.
We urge the authorities to take action against extrajudicial violence in blasphemy cases.