The violence Monday, June 18, broke out when a group of about 30 people, apparently equipped with weapons that included firearms and axes, forced the Christians to cancel their meeting in front of the Salvation Army church in the village of Chak 243-RB, near the city of Faisalabad.
Nine injured Christians, Bela Bibi, Shehbaz, Gulzaran Bibi, Imran, Shamoon, Arif, Nazeer, Maqsood and Ijaz Maseeh, were rushed to the Allied Hospital in Faisalabad, Pakistan’s
English language newspaper Dawn reported.
BULLETS FIRED
The Pakistan Christian Post newspaper said several bullets were fired "to threaten" the Christians and believers were beaten in the church courtyard. It was not clear if Christians were actually hit by bullets during Monday’s clash. News reports said however Christians suffered from bruises and fractured bones.
"Some of the injuries were caused by being hit with the blunt side of an axe, while others were caused by the weapon’s sharp side," Christian news agency Compass Direct News quoted lawyer Khalil Tahir Sindhu as saying.
The mob allegedly also ruined many of the church’s books.
In published remarks however, police officials described the violence as a "routine brawl". Dawn quoted police as saying that some Christians had approached the police for case registration "but later they did not turn up."
SURPRESSING COMPLAINTS
Local Christians said however that police "suppressed" the "complainants’ voice instead of registering a case" against those responsible for the violence. Representatives of the Christian community plan to pressure police officials to intervene.
A Christian resident of the village, whose family members were also injured in the attack, reportedly suggested that militants had pressured police not to register the case, while influencing doctors to adjust medical reports playing down the injuries to avoid prosecution.
"This is just another sad reminder of how dangerous it is for minorities in Pakistan who are often falsely accused of blasphemy, attacked and generally discriminated against by zealots," Dawn said in an editorial comment. "In this case, many Christians living in the area have left their homes, fearing further acts of violence, which is often the case when fanatics whip up hatred against minorities and threaten their safety."
Human rights groups have expressed concerns that controversial blasphemy laws are often misused in Pakistan by religious extremists. Several Christians have been detained for blasphemy in recent weeks, a charge that could carry the death sentence. Christians make up less than three percent of Pakistan’s mainly Muslim population of 165 million people, according to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). (With BosNewsLife Monitoring and reports from Pakistan).
