TOBA TEK SINGH: The Minorities Alliance Pakistan (MAP) says the state completely failed to protect the Christians at Jaranwala.

Addressing a press conference at the Faisalabad Press Club on Monday, MAP Chairman Akmal Bhatti said the minorities had always played their role in progress of the country but the state had always denied them their fundamental rights since 1947.

On Aug 16, he said, the whole world saw how the Christians were left at the mercy of miscreants while police remained silent spectators as the charged mobs looted valuables and torched their houses.

Mr Bhatti said every church in the town was ransacked and burnt and the government should be ashamed of its helplessness. He said the blasphemy laws were misused frequently against religious minorities but such incidents had increased now.

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He stressed rethinking policies to get rid of religious extremism. He said the minorities were feeling insecure due to the incidents in Jaranwala. He said the Punjab government was hesitant to fix the responsibility of the incident and everyone was waiting to see the result of a fair investigation. He feared that the innocent Christians would be made scapegoats.

On the behalf of Christians of Jaranwala, Akmal Bhatti demanded a judicial commission under a judge of the high court for fair and transparent inquiry to know facts of the Jaranwala incident and arrest of the miscreants directly involved in the incident along with their accomplices. He said the victims must be taken on board for identification of perpetrators, a fair survey should be conducted to assess the damages and all the victims must be compensated without any discrimination. Mr Bhatti demanded that the Jaranwala incident should be declared a national tragedy by the government.

Other Christian leaders, including Fr Abid Tanveer, Sadaf Adna, Tasneem Dawood advocate and Sarfraz Gill, were also present.

Civil Society: The civil society organisations in a meeting at the Aurat Foundation office on Monday condemned the brutal attacks on Christian community and churches by violent mobs in Jaranwala.

Aurat Foundation resident director Sara Anum said there was no space for such incidents of intolerance and extreme behaviour by any segment of society against anyone.

Nabeela Shaheen also condemned the Jaranwala violence, calling it extremely tragic and intolerable. A violent mob on Wednesday ransacked and torched several churches while also attacking the residences of members of the Christian community.

The participants in the meeting shared their condolences, terming the Jaranwala incident extremely tragic and intolerable. They said there was no space for violent behaviour by any segment of the society against anyone particularly against the minorities.

They said all the citizens of Pakistan were equal irrespective of religion, gender, caste or creed and no one was allowed to take the law into their hands and those culpable of committing such crimes should be brought before the court of justice.

The participants demanded that no one should be allowed to take the law into their hands and that anyone found guilty of doing so should face prosecution in a court of law. They stressed restoration of all churches and Christian homes destroyed in the Jaranwala riots within the next three to four days.

Published in Dawn, August 22nd, 2023