18/08/2023
Please keep Remember the Christians of Pakistan, they burn the 250 houses and 40 churches 😢😭❤️
Mob attacks churches in eastern Pakistan after blasphemy claim. Christian family accused of desecrating copy of Qur’an, setting off rampage in Faisalabad
Hundreds of Muslim men have attacked a Christian community in eastern Pakistan, vandalising several churches and a cemetery and setting scores of houses on fire, after accusing its members of desecrating a copy of the Qur’an.
Hundreds of people armed with sticks and rocks stormed a predominantly Christian area in Faisalabad on Wednesday. Images on social media showed smoke rising from church buildings and people setting fire to furniture.
The attack was triggered by a group of religious zealots accusing a local Christian family of desecrating the Qur’an, according to a rescue official at the scene.
Photos and video clips of burnt pages of the Qur’an were shared among the locals, which created an uproar,” Rana Imran Jamil, a spokesperson for the city’s 1122 rescue service, told AFP. He said four churches had been set on fire and there were no reports of injuries.
A Christian leader, Akmal Bhatti, told Reuters that the crowd had torched at least five churches and looted valuables from houses that had been abandoned by their owners after clerics made announcements in mosques inciting the mob.
Videos posted on social media, showed local Muslim leaders using mosque loudspeakers to urge their followers to demonstrate. “Christians have desecrated the Holy Qur’an. All the clerics, all the Muslims should unite and gather in front of the mosque. Better to die if you don’t care about Islam,” one cleric is heard saying in a video.
“There is a standoff between the police and the crowds. The crowds are not backing down. Police and Rangers have been deployed to control the situation,” Ahad Noor, a district government official, told AFP, referring to a paramilitary force.😢😭
