JARANWALA, Pakistan (AP) — Police in eastern Pakistan have arrested 129 Muslims after a mob angry over an alleged desecration of the Quran attacked a dozen churches and nearly two dozen minority Christian homes, authorities said Thursday. . Police also arrested the two Christian men suspected of defacing the Koran.
The alleged desecration sparked violence in the town of Jaranwala in the Faisalabad district on Wednesday, where Christians rushed to safer locations as mobs rampaged. There were no casualties in what was one of the country’s most destructive attacks against Christians.
The city’s police chief, Bilal Mehmood, said officers arrested Raja Amir and his friend, who had been accused by local Muslims of tearing up pages of Islam’s holy book and throwing it on the ground after writing insulting comments. on other pages.
Regional police chief Rizwan Khan said 129 suspects in the mob violence and arson had been arrested and the situation was under control. Authorities also summoned soldiers to restore order to the area, with Christian residents slowly returning to their homes to view the destruction on Thursday.
“We were sitting at home when suddenly we heard a mob coming who was burning houses and attacking churches,” Shazia Amjad said as she wept outside her burned-out house.
She said the mob burned household items and furniture and some of her possessions were stolen while she was staying with her family in a safer area.
Amjad said the rioters used gasoline to burn houses. Other Christians described similar tests and expressed bewilderment.
Azeem Masih wept as he sat outside his burned-out house on a street where several buildings burned.
He said some of the rioters brought vehicles to take away the Christians’ household items after burning their furniture and other belongings.
“Why did they do it to us? We hadn’t done anything wrong,” she said.
Christians comforted one another outside their damaged homes, weeping and crying as those who lost their homes wondered where to go and what to do.
Local priest Khalid Mukhtar said he believed most of Jaranwala’s 17 churches had been attacked and his own house was damaged.
Government officials said all damaged churches and houses would be restored within a week and those who suffered losses would be compensated.
The violence sparked nationwide condemnation, with interim Prime Minister Anwaarul-ul-Haq Kakar ordering police to ensure rioters were arrested.
According to Khan, the regional police chief, the mob quickly rallied and began attacking several churches and several Christian homes. Rioters also attacked the offices of a city administrator on Wednesday, but police intervened, firing into the air and wielding batons to disperse the rioters with the help of Muslim clerics and elders.
Videos and photos posted on social media show an angry mob descending on a church, throwing pieces of brick and burning it. In another video, four other churches are attacked, their windows smashed as the attackers throw furniture and set them on fire.
In another video, a man is seen climbing on the roof of a church and removing a steel cross after hitting it repeatedly with a hammer as a crowd on a street cheers.
The violence drew condemnation from various national and international human rights groups.
Amnesty International called for the repeal of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
Vedant Patel, spokesman for the US State Department, urged calm and called on Pakistan to carry out a full investigation.
“We support freedom of peaceful expression and the right to freedom of religion and belief for all. And as we have said before, we are always concerned about incidents of religiously motivated violence,” he said at a briefing in Washington on Wednesday.
Under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone convicted of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. Although the authorities have yet to carry out a death sentence for blasphemy, often a single accusation can spark riots and incite mob violence, lynching and murder.
Domestic and international human rights groups say the blasphemy accusations have been used to intimidate religious minorities and settle personal scores.
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Ahmed reported from Islamabad. Associated Press writers Asim Tanveer in Multan and Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan contributed to this report.