Christian churches and homes were attacked on June 30, when local Muslims attacked the village of Bahmani Wala in the Kasur district near the Punjabi provincial capital, Lahore. About 100 homes were damaged, while valuables such as gold jewelry and cash were stolen by the marauders. Furniture and house hold articles were also damaged by the mob. Some reports suggested that local churches were also attacked. At least 110 Christian families, almost 700 people, were forced to flee the village at night. “The families sought safety in the fields surrounding their village, even as local mosques urged the Muslims to unite and ‘teach a lesson’ to the Christians,” local residents say.
The problem started, according to the Daily Times on July 2, when a Christian boy, Arif Mashi, was traveling on a tractor and asked a Muslim boy, Muhammad Riaz, to allow him to pass. When Riaz refused, the two quarreled, Following this incident, a mob attacked houses of the area’s Christian community with Molotov cocktails, destroying their electricity meters and beating any Christians they found. The Muslim community refused to communicate with the Christian minority, boycotting their businesses.
Later on, when the Christians who returned to their homes, they found that they had no electricity or drinking water for the entire day. Although the police arrived, the local mosques urged a total boycott of Christians. Nonetheless, according to the Daily Times, “Kasur District Coordination Officer (DCO) Abdul Jabbar Shaheen said Islam did not allow cruelties against minorities. He apologized to the Christians for the treatment that was meted out to them.”
According to the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) of the Catholic Church, the incident was provoked by an announcement from a mosque by a cleric at the nearby village of Maan Wala. The Muslim cleric reportedly spread the rumor that the Christian inhabitants of Bahmani Wala have shown disrespect to the Prophet Muhammad. The announcement incited Muslims to kill Christians and destroy their belongings. In a joint statement issued on July 2 by Fr. Emmanuel Yousaf Mani and Peter Jacob, Director and Executive Secretary of NCJP urged the Pakistani government to take a strict action, register a case against the culprits and investigate the incident without any delay. They also urged that proper compensation be given to the victims, and that safety and security for religious minorities be assured. They also called for a repeal of blasphemy laws, on account of their manifested and repeated abuse.
Source: Minorities Report. Aftab Mughal, editor.
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