An attack on a Christian man in north-central Pakistan by a Muslim mob who accused him of desecrating the Quran marks a “dark day” for the country’s Christian community, Pakistan’s top Catholic official said. Source: core.
“I strongly condemn this incident. It is a dark day for the Church in Pakistan,” Bishop Samson Shukaruddin of Hyderabad, president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told Crooks shortly after Saturday’s attack.
“Without knowing or investigating [the accusation regarding the Koran]”The mob attacked a 74-year-old Christian man,” Bishop Shkardin said. “Christians are extremely disappointed and afraid.”
Many observers have long complained that Pakistan’s controversial anti-blasphemy laws fuel such violence, but Bishop Shukardin said the church is not calling for the repeal of those laws, but rather for good judgment on how they should be applied.
“Many Muslims are condemning this incident. There are many good Muslims, but the majority are attacking mere allegations,” he said. “Many of the complaints are based on fabricated evidence and the real reason is personal vendettas or gain.”
Bishop Shkardin also praised the local police for intervening and preventing a fatal accident.
Hundreds of Muslims took part in riots in Sargodha, Pakistan’s Punjab province, on Saturday, local observers said, that began with an accusation that Christians had desecrated Islamic scriptures and escalated into an attack that burned down his shoe factory.
Sargodha Police Chief Sariq Khan said officers had rescued at least five people from the rioters, but that stones and bricks were hurled at officers during the melee, local media reported.
A police spokesman said the violence was now under control and that police were investigating the allegations relating to the Quran, which is a crime under Pakistan’s controversial anti-blasphemy laws.
Local sources said at least one Christian man was seriously injured during the riots and remains in hospital. Around 25 people have been arrested in total.
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Pakistani bishop calls anti-Christian mob violence a “dark day” (Nirmala Carvalho, core)
