LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has condemned the burning of churches in Jaranwala by an enraged over alleged blasphemy allegations.
Political leadership and civil society representatives condemned the incident after a mob ransacked churches and destroyed churches in the town as the community fled from the area.
The HRCP said the mob-led assault on Christian families and their homes and sites of worship in Jaranwala, Faisalabad, following allegations of blasphemy “must be condemned in no uncertain terms.”
It added that the frequency and scale of such attacks which are “systematic, violent and often uncontainable” appear to have increased in recent years.
“Not only has the state failed to protect its religious minorities, but it has also allowed the far right to permeate and fester within society and politics, it added.
Both the perpetrators and instigators of this violence must be identified and punished to the full extent of the law, the rights body said.
“The government must waste no time in raising and equipping special police forces to protect religious minorities’ sites of worship as directed by the 2014 Supreme Court judgment,” it concluded.
Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar vowed to take “stern action” against a crowd that attacked Christians in eastern Pakistan and set churches on fire on Wednesday, over accusations they had desecrated the holy Quran.
“I am gutted by the visuals coming out of Jaranwala,#Faisalabad,” Kakar wrote on the X platform. “Stern action would be taken against those who violate law and target minorities.”
He said the law enforcement agencies had been tasked to arrest all culprits involved in the incident and bring them to book.
