Christians in Pakistan protest yet another attack over blasphemy

By Lisa Zengarini

Christians in Pakistan have taken to the streets of the Muslim-majority country following a new mob attack over false accusations of blasphemy in the central Punjab province.

Uca r press agencyreported that from the city of Peshawar in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the south of Karachi in Sindh, Christians gathered in large numbers over the weekend to protest the attack on two houses and a shoe factory belonging to a Christian family in Sargodha district of Punjab.

The Sargodha attack

The factory's Christian owner, Mr. Nazil Gill Masih, and his son were accused of burning pages of the Quran in their trash bins in the residential area of ​​Sargodha's Gillwala Mujahid Colony and were attacked last week by more than 400 men armed with batons and bricks. , and stones ransacking and burning their shops and houses.

Although twelve family members were able to escape, Mr. Masih was beaten and seriously injured before police arrived and managed to remove him from the crowd. He was rushed to hospital in critical condition.

His son was also allegedly beaten and, according to the pontifical foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), looting and burning continued after the attack, posing a serious threat to the security and well-being of the community. local Christian community.

More than 400 people involved and 25 arrests

The Minority Alliance of Pakistan (MAP) demanded that the perpetrators of violence be punished. For its part, ACN joined in the strong condemnation of the incident and expressed its solidarity with the affected family and the entire Christian community in Pakistan. Police, meanwhile, have registered cases against 450 unknown persons under the Anti-Terrorism Act and 25 people have been arrested in connection with the attack.

Protests across Pakistan

During a protest in Peshawar, Christians declared May 25 a “black day” and over 500 protesters at Faisalabad District Council Chowk in central Punjab blocked traffic for two hours and 20 women burned their headscarves in protest, Akmal Bhatti, a Catholic. » declared the political leader and head of the MAP.

In Karachi, Christians demonstrated at the Press Club, demanding the dismissal of senior police officials. Video footage of the mob attack shows police doing nothing. However, the police denied this claim.

According to Uca reports, the Sargodha district administration has banned gatherings and imposed Section 144, a colonial-era law that prohibits public gatherings, until May 31. Additional police officers were deployed to maintain public order. Father David John, parish priest of the Divine Mercy Catholic Church in the mujahid settlement where the mob attack took place, said the situation was now under control. “Only a few families returned, even though the police assured us of their protection,” added the priest.

Abuse of the blasphemy law vistimizing minorities

Blasphemy has been a crime punishable by death in Pakistan since 1981, although no one has been executed by the government. However, in many cases, the mob takes over the matter and lynches the suspects, and the draconian law introduced by the military government of General Zia-ul Haq is often misused to level false accusations against Christians and others. other religious minorities in order to settle personal scores. .

The attack in Sargodha district comes a little over nine months after the Jaranwala riots in Punjab's Faisalabad district, sparked by another false accusation of blasphemy on August 16, 2023, when rumors began to spread that a man and his son disrespected the Quran by placing their photographs on its pages.