LAHORE, Dec 24: Hundreds of Christians on Monday staged a demonstration outside the Governor’s House to protest demolition of a Garden Town church and press for its reconstruction.

The demonstrators, including women and children, carrying banners and placards, gathered in front of the Governor’s House on the call of the All-Pakistan Minorities Rights Action Committee. They raised slogans against police and the land mafia accusing them of church demolition, eviction of the priests and occupation of its land. They also handed over a memorandum to a deputy secretary of the Governor’s House.

Speaking on the occasion, Church of Christ Governing Body Secretary Mushtaq Sajeel Bhatti said the church had been built on nine kanals and 15 marla land, purchased by the Christians in Abu Bakar Block, Garden Town, opposite the Qaddafi Stadium in 1963.—Reporter