Christian homes in Pakistan torched over alleged blasphemy

[Valigarmander]

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news ... hemy-row-0

Thousands of angry protesters on Saturday set ablaze more than 100 houses of Pakistani Christians over a blasphemy row in the eastern city of Lahore, officials said.

Over 3,000 Muslim protesters turned violent over derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed allegedly made by Sawan Masih, a 28-year-old Christian, three days earlier, police official Multan Khan said.

The exact number of houses in Joseph Colony, a Christian neighbourhood in Badami Bagh area, were not immediately known but police and rescue officials said they belonged to low to middle-class families from the minority community.

Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf have ordered an immediate inquiry into the attacks.

"Police arrested Masih, a sanitary worker, on Friday night while the incident actually happened on Wednesday evening," Khan told AFP.

He said that the arrest was made when Masih's barber friend Shahid Imran complained that he had made blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammed, adding that Christians had fled the area on Friday evening, fearing a backlash.

Protesters began to assemble in the area on Saturday morning and later set on fire houses and other items including furniture, crockery, auto rickshaws, bicycles and motorbikes belonging to local Christians.

"Thick clouds of smoke engulfed the small houses, mostly consisting of one or two rooms, and many of them looked like charred shells," said an AFP reporter at the scene.

Police said protesters burnt 25 houses but Dr Ahmad Raza, in-charge of local rescue operations, and the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) put the number at more than 100.

"At least 160 houses, 18 shops and two small churches were burnt by protesters," Raza, who was busy in rescue operations in the area, told AFP.

Expressing grief and anger at the attack, HRCP chairwoman Zohra Yusuf put the number of houses burnt during the protest at over 100.

Police baton-charged the protesters to disperse them from the neighbourhood. There was no loss of life reported during the violence but 20 policemen were slightly injured during clashes, officials said.

Private Pakistani TV channels showed footage of violence from the scene as many masked members of the mob damaged or burned down households.

The Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf have both ordered an investigation into the violence.

"President Zardari called for a report into this unfortunate incident and said such acts of vandalism against minorities tarnish the image of the country," his spokesman Farhatullah Babar said in a statement.

Prime Minister Ashraf also ordered an "expeditious inquiry and measures to stop recurrence of such incidents in future", his office said in a statement.

Provincial law minister Rana Sanaullah said in Lahore that the government would not spare those involved in the attack.

"These people committed a serious crime... there was no moral, legal or religious ground to indulge in such an act," he told private Express News TV channel.

Yusuf criticised the provincial government in a statement and said "it totally failed in providing protection to a minority community under siege".

Shamaun Alfred Gill, a spokesman for the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, also condemned the incident and demanded that the government provide security to Christians.

Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the population are Muslims, and allegations of insulting Islam or the Prophet Mohammed can prompt violent outbursts of public anger, even when unproven.

The laws came under the international spotlight in August last year when 14-year-old Christian girl Rimsha Masih was held for three weeks in a high security prison for allegedly burning pages from the Koran.

[NitzWalsh]

Sounds like a fun place to live. Stories like this make me think we can just sit back and let the religious folk wipe each other out.

[FrankDK]

Please explain to me again how religion makes the world a better place.

Frank

[NitzWalsh]

Please explain to me again how religion makes the world a better place.

Frank

It's because we get our morality from God, and we're all better people because of it.

[FrankDK]

Please explain to me again how religion makes the world a better place.

Frank

It's because we get our morality from God, and we're all better people because of it.

Oh, yeah.  I forgot.  Thanks.

Frank

[Brian37]

Your god is a pussy if he cant fight his own battles and needs mortals to bully others for him. Cant your bully god do his own dirty work?

[St Giordano Bruno]

Your god is a pussy if he cant fight his own battles and needs mortals to bully others for him. Cant your bully god do his own dirty work?

Yes. I should think he should be organizing a few well targeted lightning bolts himself if he exists. This is just a case of Allah's work by proxy or the flying spaghetti's monster work by proxy for that matter.

[pr126]

Sounds like a fun place to live. Stories like this make me think we can just sit back and let the religious folk wipe each other out.

The "wiping out" in Muslim dominated places is pretty much one sided.

[pr126]

Sentence? None, I should think.

Allah has endorsed their hunting license with no bag limits in 622 AD, valid for all times.
It is their (jihad) duty to cleanse Allah's earth from unbelief.
"Kill them wherever you find them"

Just following orders from the most high...

Yes, I know that not all Muslims are following Allah's orders, but those are hypocrites destined to the fire.
Disturbingly, the number of true believers are growing day by day.

[pr126]

Yeah... But then the article gives that it has been recognised as a serious crime and that there will be inquiry for punishment from official levels.

Of course they have to make the correct noises to placate the "international community", especially that billions of dollars (aid / jizya, make your own interpretations) depend on it.

But internally, as past evidence shows, nothing changes.
Nothing will change anytime soon.
Unless perhaps, the money given away so freely, has certain conditions attached to it.
Which should stop, if those conditions are not met.

[pr126]

Are those persecuted minorities, their lives and property expendable  in Muslim dominated countries for some common purpose?

[pr126]

Interesting how religion is excluded by you from the equation.
Apparently it is only greed that drives the "culture"?  

But that just confirms to me that the [s:25unwc20]religion[/s:25unwc20]  culture  is driven by conquest, greed and subjugation, as per Muhammad's example.

And here I would like to point out that since Islam is a complete way of life, governing all aspects of Muslims deeds and thought to the minutes detail, therefore the culture is also determined by the religion. It is inseparable.

[leo]

The religion of peace .

[Jmpty]

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 013_pg7_14


"Exploitation of popular sentiment in the name of religion is not new in Pakistan, but it is reaching unprecedented proportions, especially when applied to the Christian community of Pakistan, whose numbers (along with those of Hindus, Ahmadis, Hazaras and Shias) are dwindling at an alarming rate. At this rate, we will very soon have to remove the white panel from Pakistan's flag, as there will be no non-Muslim citizens left to represent that white panel. This is not Jinnah's Pakistan. This is not what Islam teaches either.

This is a New Republic of Hatred, Violence, Intolerance, Vigilante Mob rule, Militant Jihadism, Extremism and Talibanization, where neither Christians, Hindus, Ahmadis, Shias/Hazaras are safe; nor are Muslim women and girls; nor are schools, mosques, imambargahs, churches or temples; where there is no rule of law or fundamental human rights. Is this what Pakistan was created for? Why must we continue to carry the burden of the "jihadi" (sic) legacy left behind by Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, further fomented and funded by Salafist-Wahabi Saudi Arabia, Shia Iran and neo-Imperialist USA to this day? Is this the Pakistan we wish to leave behind for our children? Our answer is a loud NO, it is NOT. We demand that the Government of Punjab, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, IG Police Habib-ur-Rahman, Chief Secretary and others take immediate note of this terrible situation, reverse the illegal and mala fide FIR registered; arrest the thana SHO and terminate his services; arrest and try the false accusers, Imam and mob leaders.

We demand that the now homeless Christian community of Joseph Colony be provided effective protection by the Punjab Government, along with immediate reconstruction, rehabilitation, relief goods and full compensation for all losses suffered. We remind the Punjab Government that under the Constitution, it is solely responsible for the protection of the life, liberty, dignity, property and possessions of ALL Pakistanis, particularly the vulnerable non-Muslims, who are EQUAL citizens of the State.

We demand that the Federal and Provincial Governments take URGENT IMMEDIATE action to end the misuse, abuse and exploitation of Section 295-B & C, by revisions in the Law and PPC sections. pr"

From the Pakistan Daily Times.

[Colanth]

---How is it possible that an angry mob constituted of 3000 people raising up and burning over 100 houses down in the name of jihad, does not produce any human casualty?

He said that the arrest was made when Masih's barber friend Shahid Imran complained that he had made blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammed, adding that Christians had fled the area on Friday evening, fearing a backlash.

If most of them fled before anything happened, that could explain it.