ASIA/PAKISTAN - The General Vicar of Lahore: "Release the innocent among the Christians arrested"

Tuesday, 24 March 2015

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - "The situation is calm, but there is still a lot of fear in Youhanabad. The faithful are afraid of police intervention and arrests but also of revenge on behalf of Muslim groups. In any case, the role of the security forces to protect the neighborhood is very positive": says in an interview with Agenzia Fides Fr. Francis Gulzar, Catholic parish priest of St. John Church, which was attacked on March 15, along with a Protestant church. Fr. Gulzar, who is also the General Vicar of the Archdiocese of Lahore, explains to Fides: "The police are viewing films and continue to arrest some Christians from Youhanabad, to find the perpetrators of the lynching of two Muslims following the attack". According to official sources of the police in Lahore, the Christians arrested in the days immediately after the massacre, because of riots and protests, are 35. On Sunday, March 22, in a raid in Youhanabad, officials arrested 40 other people. "Those responsible have to be identified and brought to justice".
The Vicar of Lahore notes that "it is very sad what happened after the massacre. Christians are guilty of a crime, the violent reaction is not Christian and not evangelical. Those killed, according to initial reports, could be innocent people. It is the first time in Pakistan's history that Christians, from victims, become tormentors. It was an inhumane act that we all condemn. We hope justice always triumphs".
But justice must be the same for everyone: "Many wonder: where are the murderers of Minister Shahbaz Bhatti? Where are the perpetrators of the massacre of Gojra, where in 2009 a Muslim mob destroyed a Christian neighborhood burning eight faithful alive among children, women and the elderly? Where are the culprits of the lynching of the Christian spouses burned alive in Kot Radha Kishan in November, 2014?" concludes the priest. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 24/03/2015)


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