Zeeshan Yaqoob, Global Christian Relief
An investigative report has found that the August riots in Jaranwala, Pakistan, were likely not spontaneous but part of a “larger campaign of hatred against local Christians.” According to the fact-finding mission conducted by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), police officers confirmed that some “Muslim religious groups have raised issues that have created communal tension in the recent past.”
On August 16, 2023, at least 24 churches, several dozen smaller chapels, and scores of houses in Jaranwala were torched, looted, or destroyed in a series of mob-led attacks against the local Christian community.
The HRCP learned that several videos made during the attacks in different localities of Jaranwala were in circulation, showing members of a particular religious political party inciting the crowd to violence. The report also indicates that there could be larger political and social motives behind the attack on Jaranwala.
However, not all local authorities agree with the HRCP report, believing India is to blame. The Punjab Police Inspector General stated at a press conference that the riots in Jaranwala and the desecration of the Quran in Sargodha, Pakistan were evidence of a “foreign conspiracy” by India to detract from its own mistreatment of Christians.
As he spoke, the police officer waved a copy of an article regarding the mistreatment of Christian women in Manipur, India, and a news report about a European Union resolution addressing injustices against Muslims and other minorities in India. “We have busted the anti-Pakistan network,” he said. “God willing, such incidents will not occur in the future.”
The police inspector general said that officers arrested 180 people suspected in the Jaranwala attacks, including three main suspects. He did not say why Christians in Jaranwala were arrested and whether they were suspected of being “agents” of the neighboring country.
“We found that the two accused arrested in Sargodha had links to a hostile agency,” the police said, implying his belief in a conspiracy plotted by the enemy country. “The hostile agency hatched a well thought-out and coordinated conspiracy to divert the attention from their country towards Pakistan.”
In response to the police report, the President of the Church of Pakistan, Bishop Azad Marshall, said in a media statement said the police chief’s claim was “ludicrous” and an attempt to “bury the facts, as has been the past practice in all such incidents.”
He added that instead of investigating the underlying reasons for such attacks and addressing the root causes, like misuse of harsh blasphemy laws, the police are arresting and harassing Christians to cover up the truth behind the Jaranwala attacks. These police statements insinuate that poor Christians are spies, which is very dangerous for the community.
The senior church leader filed a petition in the Lahore High Court seeking the formation of a judicial commission to investigate all aspects of the attacks, to enact justice against negligent police and officials, and to add measures to protect Christians from mob violence. “The Jaranwala incident could have been prevented if appropriate steps were taken from attacks in Shantinagar, Gojra, and Joseph Colony in the past, but it seems our state isn’t interested in addressing the root cause that leads to such senseless violence,” he said.
Human Rights Defender, and Executive Director of the Center for Social Justice (CSJ), Peter Jacob, was a part of the HRCP investigation. He commented on the police investigation into the Jaranwala incident and raised concerns about the lack of clarity regarding several of the recent police reports filed. Peter labeled the Indian conspiracy allegation from the police as a typical political statement.
“If this was the foreign conspiracy, and there were no locals involved, then the police must apologize to the Christian community, as they were unable to apprehend this conspiracy,” Jacob stated.
He emphasized radicalization and religious intolerance in Pakistan are deep-seated issues independent of external events. To tackle these problems, Jacob highlighted the need to address internal factors, including policing and reforms that inadvertently fuel religious hatred and extremism. In the fight against religious-based violence in Pakistan, Jacob called on authorities to examine the societal factors contributing to growing extremism and religious intolerance. To prevent the misuse of blasphemy laws, he urged the Pakistani government to prioritize addressing gaps in the legal framework surrounding these laws.
Reportedly, at least 57 blasphemy cases were registered in Pakistan from January to May 2023. The highest number of cases, 28 in total, were recorded in the province of Punjab. In 2022 the Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) reported that between 1947 and 2021, 18 women and 71 men were extra-judicially killed over blasphemy accusations. Since 2011, nearly 1,300 people have been accused of blasphemy.
Photo Courtesy: ©Getty Images/Oleh_Slobodeniuk
The views expressed in this commentary do not necessarily reflect those of Christian Headlines.
Global Christian Relief (GCR) is America’s leading watchdog organization focused on the plight of persecuted Christians worldwide. In addition to equipping the Western church to advocate and pray for the persecuted, GCR works in the most restrictive countries to protect and encourage Christians threatened by faith-based discrimination and violence.
