Following blasphemy accusation, churches and homes of Christians in Pakistan destroyed

On Aug 17, 2023

In this photo provided by district police office, a police officer pours water into a burning house at a Christian neighborhood following an angry mob attack in Jaranwala near Faisalabad, Pakistan, Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023. A Muslim mob stormed a Christian locality in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, burning three churches and demolishing the house of a man after accusing him of desecrating the pages of Islam's holy book, police said. (District Police Office via AP)

RELIGIOUS NEWS AGENCY (REDNA) – Eight churches and several homes have been vandalised in Pakistan’s Punjab province after a Christian man was accused of making blasphemous comments against Islam.

CNN reported the National Commission for Human Rights said the situation was “sad and shameful” and the UK’s envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, Fiona Bruce MP, said she was horrified.

Police in Pakistan have arrested dozens of people from the northern Punjab province after a Muslim mob attacked churches and homes belonging to minority Christians over the alleged desecration of the Quran by a Christian man.

Authorities deployed paramilitary troops to restore order in the city of Jaranwala in the Faisalabad district, officials said on Thursday.

There were no casualties as Christians living in the area moved to safer places along with their families.

Christians slowly returned to their homes on Thursday, only to see the destruction of at least one church that was burned down. Four other churches were also damaged. Two dozen homes were torched or badly damaged during the riots.

Muslims in eastern Pakistan went on a rampage on Wednesday over allegations that a Christian man had desecrated the Quran, demolishing the man’s house before attacking the other properties.

In one of the country’s worst cases of religious violence, a mob in 2009 burned an estimated 60 homes and killed six Christians in the district of Gojra in Punjab, after accusing them of insulting Islam.

The violence followed the arrest of two men accused of “desecrating the holy Quran and abusing the Prophet Mohammed.”

The home of one of the men was set on fire. The churches targeted in Faisalabad were Catholic, Salvation Army and Pentecostal.