Pakistan
Violence against Christians – “People are traumatized”
Young people stand in front of a church in Jaranwala that has been damaged and burned down. photo
© Muhammad Shafqat/AP/dpa
With the recent riots against Christians in Pakistan, concerns are growing about more violence. Once again, Islamists are significantly involved. Critics accuse the government of having looked the other way for too long.
Burned out churches, chaos on the streets and desperate residents who witnessed serious riots: two days after the violence against Christians in Pakistan’s communities are still stunned. “A dozen churches and around 50 houses were reduced to rubble in a flash,” recalls pastor Arshad Nizam from Jaranwala near the megacity of Faisalabad when an angry mob swept through the Christian quarter. “That’s how everything developed.”
Radical preachers incited thousands of followers on Wednesday after two young Christians were targeted by the Islamists. The accusation: They are said to have degraded the Koran, the holy book of Islam. It was not the first time that extremists in the South Asian country used allegations of blasphemy to inflame a crowd. Miraculously, nobody was hurt. In panic, the residents left their homes and found shelter in fields, where they stayed at night. Fear was also felt in other parts of the country.
Backgrounds remain unclear
In Jaranwala, security forces imposed a curfew and arrested more than 100 suspected rioters. But the two young Christians were also arrested. The brothers face charges under the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which in extreme cases even carry the death penalty. However, it has never been enforced since the controversial laws were introduced under former military ruler Zia ul-Haq more than 30 years ago. The exact background to the allegations was still unclear. Provincial officials even said it was a different dispute.
Christians are a minority in the South Asian country, where more than 96 percent of the more than 240 million inhabitants follow Islam. The government has repeatedly emphasized that it wants to stand up for them. Top politicians in the majority Muslim nuclear power sharply condemned the riots. Anwarul Haq Kakar, the acting prime minister, has urged the security authorities to hold those responsible accountable and bring them to justice. In Lahore, the capital of the affected province, elite units patrolled Christian quarters.
Pastor Nizam criticized that the promises made by politicians were merely lip service. “We cannot rest easy if words are not followed by deeds,” Nizam said on the phone on Friday after comforting families in the neighborhood. “People are traumatised, they are scared and they feel threatened. Words will not heal them. Actions will. We haven’t seen any tangible actions in the past,” the pastor said.
Newspaper: Disturbing regularity
Once again, leaders of the Islamist party Tehreek-e Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were instrumental. The populist group is known for its ability to mobilize crowds, especially in relation to allegations of blasphemy. At times the party was banned. In 2011, the TLP also openly supported the murder of a liberal governor of the province of Punjab, who had campaigned for the well-known Christian woman Asia Bibi. She was the first woman to be sentenced to death for blasphemy more than a decade ago, but was eventually acquitted in 2019. The well-known Catholic no longer lives in Pakistan.
In an opinion piece, the Pakistani newspaper “Dawn” lamented the vigilantism in the light of allegations of blasphemy. “Obviously no proof is required in Pakistan when it comes to blasphemy,” the article said. Despite the widespread participation, the newspaper also blamed the governments, which for years have adhered to the strict blasphemy laws, partly out of fear of the anger and power of the Islamists. “Can we then complain when incidents like the one in Jaranwala occur with worrying regularity?”