LAHORE: More than 80 Christian homes and 19 churches in Pakistan were vandalized when a Muslim mob rampaged through the streets over alleged blasphemy this week, the head of Punjab provincial police, Usman Anwar, said Friday.
“The events that unfolded were tragic. Violence like this can never be justified,” he told AFP, adding that he will travel to the city of Jaranwala on Sunday to show solidarity with the Christian community.
Anwar said he personally interrogated two Christian brothers accused of desecrating the Qur'an “to avoid accusations of torture.”
Hundreds of Pakistan’s Christian minority fled their homes Wednesday when an angry crowd of Muslim men tore through the streets of Jaranwala, on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad, torching homes and churches.
On Friday, 3,200 churches were guarded by police across Punjab province to provide reassurance to the Christian community, Anwar said.
The angry mob of hundreds were ordered to protest by Muslim clerics, who used mosque loudspeakers to spread news of the allegations.
Homes in the Christian neighborhood were ransacked, with their contents strewn all over the streets.
Muslims living in the predominantly Christian area gave shelter to their neighbors and pinned Qur'anic verses to the doors of Christian homes to prevent them from being targeted, residents of both faiths told AFP.
Government and religious leaders have called for calm.
Christian groups have held a number of small protests across the country calling for greater protection.
“We hope that through this protest, the government must realize that this issue must be dealt with sternly and those who committed destruction must be brought to justice,” Archbishop of Karachi, Benny Travis, told AFP at a small rally.
The Punjab caretaker leader Mohsin Naqvi expressed solidarity with Christians, adding that they would be compensated for their losses.
The provincial government has announced an inquiry into the violence.
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 blasphemy allegations.
Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in deeply conservative, Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam and its Prophet Muhammad can provoke death at the hands of vigilantes.
Politicians have been assassinated, lawyers murdered and students lynched over accusations of blasphemy.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the number and size of the attacks “appear to have increased in recent years.”
More than 80 Christian homes, 19 churches vandalized in Pakistan blasphemy riot: police
https://arab.news/9cted
More than 80 Christian homes, 19 churches vandalized in Pakistan blasphemy riot: police
- Hundreds of Pakistan’s Christian minority fled their homes Wednesday when an angry crowd of Muslim men tore through the streets of Jaranwala
- On Friday, 3,200 churches were guarded by police across Punjab province to provide reassurance to the Christian community
Indonesia reaffirms Yemen’s territorial integrity, backs stability efforts amid tensions
- Statement comes after Saudi Arabia bombed a UAE weapons shipment at Yemeni port city
- Jakarta last week said it ‘appreciates’ Riyadh ‘working together’ with Yemen to restore stability
JAKARTA: Indonesia has called for respect for Yemen’s territorial integrity and commended efforts to maintain stability in the region, a day after Saudi Arabia bombed a weapons shipment from the UAE at a Yemeni port city that Riyadh said was intended for separatist forces.
Saudi Arabia carried out a “limited airstrike” at Yemen’s port city of Al-Mukalla in the southern province of Hadramout on Tuesday, following the arrival of an Emirati shipment that came amid heightened tensions linked to advances by the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued late on Wednesday, the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “appreciates further efforts by concerned parties to maintain stability and security,” particularly in the provinces of Hadramout and Al-Mahara.
“Indonesia reaffirms the importance of peaceful settlement through an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue under the coordination of the United Nations and respecting Yemen’s legitimate government and territorial integrity,” Indonesia’s foreign affairs ministry said.
The latest statement comes after Jakarta said last week that it “appreciates the efforts of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as other relevant countries, working together with Yemeni stakeholders to de-escalate tensions and restore stability.”
Saudi Arabia leads the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, which includes the UAE and was established in 2015 to combat the Houthi rebels, who control most of northern Yemen.
Riyadh has been calling on the STC, which initially supported Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthi rebels, to withdraw after it launched an offensive against the Saudi-backed government troops last month, seeking an independent state in the south.
Indonesia has also urged for “all parties to exercise restraint and avoid unilateral action that could impact security conditions,” and has previously said that the rising tensions in Yemen could “further deteriorate the security situation and exacerbate the suffering” of the Yemeni people.
Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, maintains close ties with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which are its main trade and investment partners in the Middle East.
