LAHORE: At least five members of a minority Christian community were rescued on Saturday after a Muslim crowd attacked their settlement in eastern Pakistan, police and a community leader said.
The crowd, which accused the Christian group of blasphemy, hurled stones and bricks at the police, said Shariq Kamal, the police chief of Sargodha district.
A large contingent of police cordoned off the settlement, he said, adding that the crowd had been pushed back and five injured Christians had been taken to hospital.
At least one house and a small shoe factory was set on fire by protesters who had gathered after neighbors alleged that the Muslim holy book, the Holy Qur’an, had been desecrated by a minority community member, according to a police spokesman and Akmal Bhatti, a Christian leader.
“They burned one house and lynched several Christians,” Bhatti aid.
Videos posted on social media showed protesters looting items from burning properties. Others were seen throwing the items in a heap on fire in a street.
Bhatti said the videos were images from the scene.
Reuters could not independently verify the pictures.
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan said the Christian community was “at grave risk to their lives at the hands of the charged mobs.”
Blasphemy is a sensitive subject in conservative Muslim-majority Pakistan, where just an accusation can lead to a street lynching.
Human rights groups say Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores.
While blasphemy is punishable by death in Pakistan, no one has been executed by the state for it, though numerous accused have been lynched by outraged mobs.
A Muslim crowd attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan last year, vandalizing several churches and setting scores of houses on fire after accusing two of its members of desecrating the Qur’an.
Pakistani Christian community attacked in Punjab province after blasphemy accusation
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Pakistani Christian community attacked in Punjab province after blasphemy accusation
- The violence broke out after allegations of the desecration of the Muslim scripture, the Holy Qur’an
- Police says they pushed back a crowd to rescue five injured Christians before taking them to hospital
Pakistan flags funding strain, host state cooperation gaps in UN peacekeeping
- Pakistan says blue helmets remain the most visible symbol of UN commitment to peace
- The country urges member states to pay contributions on time to sustain UN missions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday raised concerns over mounting financial pressures on United Nations peacekeeping operations along with a lack of cooperation from some host countries, warning that the challenges risk undermining the effectiveness and safety of missions worldwide.
Pakistan’s top diplomat at the UN flagged the issues while speaking at a UN Security Council briefing on peacekeeping police components.
Pakistan is one of the world’s top troop-contributing countries and has deployed more than 235,000 peacekeepers to 48 UN missions across four continents over the past eight decades.
A total of 182 of its peacekeepers have also lost their lives while serving under the UN flag.
“We are concerned at the current challenges faced by the United Nations peacekeeping, both financial as well as those arising from lack of host state cooperation,” Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad told the council. “Pakistan underscores the importance of full cooperation by host States to enable timely deployment of peacekeepers including police components where authorized by the Security Council.”
He noted that UN missions were operating under acute financial stress, leading to capacity reductions that directly affected mandate delivery and the safety of peacekeepers, while UN police units continued to face gaps between authorized strength and actual deployments.
Ahmad urged UN member states to pay their assessed contributions in full and on time to ensure peacekeeping missions remain operationally capable.
“Blue helmets are the most visible symbol of the United Nations commitment to peace and stability,” he said. “Peacekeeping brings relevance and legitimacy to this organization by making a tangible difference in people’s lives.”
Pakistan has contributed both military and police personnel to UN operations, deploying more than 50 formed police units to missions including Haiti, Darfur, Timor-Leste and Côte d’Ivoire, according to Pakistan’s UN mission.
