Christian Community Attacked Over Blasphemy Accusation in Eastern Pakistan

(CTN News) – At least ten members of a minority Christian community were rescued on Saturday when a Muslim crowd attacked their hamlet in eastern Pakistan on blasphemy charges, according to police and a community leader.

According to Shariq Kamal, the police chief of Sargodha district, the crowd accused the Christian group of blasphemy and threw stones and bricks at the police.

Protesters set fire to at least one house and a small shoe business after neighbors claimed that a minority community member had desecrated the Muslim holy book, the Koran, according to a police official and Christian leader Akmal Bhatti.

“They burned one house” and severely battered several Christians, Bhatti stated.

According to Kamal, a strong presence of police walled off the community and pushed the crowd back. One member of the Christian community who was transported to the hospital was later reported to be in stable condition.

According to police official Assad Malhi, approximately 25 demonstrators have been arrested, and 11 police officers were injured during the operation to rescue Christian community members from the crowd.

Background on Blasphemy Laws and the Christian Community

Police said the situation had cooled by late evening, and leaders from both sides had asked for peace.

Minority Rights March, a Christian rights organization, reported that the crowd battered and dragged a 70-year-old man convicted of blasphemy.

It stated that camera footage indicated that the police did not interfere. The cops have disputed the accusation.

Social media videos showed demonstrators looting stuff from burning buildings. Others were observed setting fire to the things in a pile on the roadway.

Bhatti stated that the tapes showed photos from the scene.

Reuters could not independently authenticate the images.

According to Pakistan’s independent Human Rights Commission, the Christian community is “at grave risk to their lives at the hands of the charged mobs”.

Blasphemy is a delicate issue in conservative Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even an accusation might result in a street lynching.

Human rights groups claim that Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws are frequently used to settle personal scores.

While blasphemy is punished by death in Pakistan, no one has been executed by the state despite countless lynchings by enraged mobs.

Last year, a Muslim mob stormed a Christian community in eastern Pakistan, vandalizing numerous churches and setting fire to scores of homes after accusing two of its members of desecrating the Koran.