Even though in the whole country they account for around 1.5 per cent of the population they feel they are most susceptible in Punjab because of their higher number and wonder: How has the province of Sufis become so violent that too towards minority groups?
Source/Credit: Daily Dawn | Pakistan
By Xari Jalil | September 26, 2013
LAHORE, Sept 25: The situation among Christians in Lahore is tense. After the attack on the Peshawar church, followed by the attack on the Ahmadiyya place of worship in Sialkot on Sunday and Monday, respectively, fear is the only logical response. There is a solid reason for this: Punjab has been the most dangerous province followed closely by Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa with regard to the number of attacks on its various minority communities.
Though individuals from minority communities have been attacked throughout Pakistan’s history, the wave of attacks against Christians began after the Afghan-led war on terror in 2001. The chronology includes the Sangla Hill incident, where about 3,000 militants attacked Christians, the Gojra riots, several individual blasphemy cases, assassinations of Minister Shahbaz Bhatti and Governor Salmaan Taseer in response to their being against the Blasphemy Law, the attack on over 100 Christian homes in Joseph Colony (Lahore), attacks on countless Christian homes and churches in response to the Danish cartoons incident, and many other attacks on individuals which were never remembered enough.
Even though in the whole country they account for around 1.5 per cent of the population they feel they are most susceptible in Punjab because of their higher number and wonder: How has the province of Sufis become so violent that too towards minority groups?
“The law has often been abused to target minorities, settle vendettas and personal disputes and even settle land issues,” says a Christian whose house was burnt down during this year’s Joseph Colony mob attack. “They want to erase us so that they can simply encroach upon the land we are occupying.”
Some examples of incidents are the riots in Faisalabad in 2005, when Christians were blamed for desecration of the Quran; earlier in 2001, 16 people died in Bahawalpur when gunmen burst into a church, spraying bullets. During the 1990s, some Christians were arrested on charges of blasphemy. In a drastic step mirroring his frustration, Faisalabad’s Bishop John Joseph committed suicide to protest the execution of a Christian man on blasphemy charges. His suicide gained nothing for his community.
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Read original post here: Will Punjab hitch up its security after Peshawar attack?
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