CV NEWS FEED // Jaranwala Christians are still waiting for justice a year after violent mob attacks swept across the Faisalabad district in Pakistan, looting and burning over 25 churches and hundreds of houses belonging to Christian families.
Last week marked the anniversary of the attacks, which broke out on August 16, 2023 after two Christian men in the community were accused of committing blasphemy by burning several pages of the Quran. Hundreds of Christians were forced to flee from their homes as a mass wave of Pakistani Muslims mobilized, attacking their homes and churches.
According to an August 17 AsiaNews report, Jaranwala Christians held a commemorative event on the anniversary of the devastating event. Bishop Indrias Rehmat of Faisalabad attended the ceremony, where people prayed for the victims and for peace and “hundreds of people marched in wearing black clothes and chanting slogans against extremism.”
The Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF) reportedly organized the event, which was intended to draw attention from the government civil society organizations “to find possible solutions to the rise of extremism against religious minorities in Pakistan.”
As CatholicVote previously reported at the end of July, at least 70 violent attacks have been perpetrated against Christians in Pakistan since the Jaranwala attacks, including instances of torture, abduction, sexual violence against minors, killings, and forced conversions.
Notably, Christians in Jaranwala refrained from participating in Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrations on August 15, as AsiaNews reported.
“We have always installed flags on the roofs of our churches and celebrated by playing drums and dropping rose petals on our flag,” Fr Khalid Rashid Asi of Holy Rosary Parish stated in the report: “But today we remember August 16, 2023, when dozens of churches were set on fire by extremists, our homes looted, and our people forced to leave their homes and remain in open fields.”
“On this Independence Day, I did not see the happiness on the faces of our people that we usually see on Independence Day; behind this sadness is a long series of oppressions. But we still remember our martyrs and heroes who did their best for this country,” the priest concluded.
