Just a month apart, there have been two horrific, outrageous attacks on Christians in Pakistan, first in the Kasur area near the city of Lahore and most recently in the small towns of Gojra and Korian near Faisalabad, both in the province of Punjab.
I have previously visited both sites as part of regular inspections of the Danish European Mission's aid projects in Pakistan.
The crying Mariam in the picture has attended one of the Danish European Mission's sewing schools
The two attacks on Christians are similar in that an entire Christian community is attacked and totally destroyed by enraged, fanatical Muslims. As mentioned, only a month passed between the two attacks, but the most recent attack was not just material destruction and violence, with dozens injured. So far, seven people are known to have died in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Christian neighborhood of Gojra. One man, Hameed Masih, was shot and the rest were burned to death when mobs set fire to Christians' houses. A woman and her daughter, Asia, who was a student at one of the Danish European Mission's sewing centers, were burned to death immediately after they witnessed the killing of Hameed Masih, whose daughter, Mariam, is also a student at the same sewing center. The image of her crying at her father's coffin has gone around the world.
The first attack, which took place in Kasur district near Lahore, was triggered by some Christians asking a Muslim to move his vehicle that was blocking the road. It was seen as an insult that such sweepers allowed themselves to address Muslims in this way. "Sweepers are people belonging to the lower castes whose place in society is to sweep and keep clean, while Muslims see themselves as superior beings for whom Christians must bow and scrape. Most Christians in Pakistan belong to the lowest strata of society.
This request from a single Christian not to block the road was answered with the almost total destruction of an entire Christian community. Everything of value was destroyed or stolen.
In the latest incident, which involved several village communities near the city of Faisalabad, there was a rumor that Christians had desecrated the Quran. This was retaliated with both destruction and arson. It is doubtful that those responsible will ever be found and convicted of their crime. As Muslims, they do not believe they have done anything wrong. They have merely defended the honor of the Quran and their prophet.
In both cases, extremist Muslims played a leading role, including shouting their false accusations against the Christians through the loudspeakers of the local mosque and calling on Muslims to attack them. One wonders where in the Koran or Islamic tradition one finds anything that justifies the arson of innocent people in retaliation for crimes that have not even been proven.
Prayers are urgently needed, both for the current government in Pakistan, which condemns such attacks on Christians, and for the Christians in the country who increasingly live in fear of when and where the Islamists will strike next. In solidarity with the Christians in Pakistan, we must stand together and protest, among other things, that the government has not yet taken steps to abolish the notorious blasphemy clause in the law. It is used almost exclusively to bully Christians and fosters a climate of suspicion and disharmony where Muslim anger has little time to explode into orgies of violence against the small, almost defenseless Christian minority.
