ASIA/PAKISTAN - Lynching in Youhanabad: 47 Christians detained in prison

Monday, 11 May 2015

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - Forty-seven Pakistani Christians have been held in prison on charges of being involved in the lynching of two Muslims which occurred after the two suicide attacks against two churches in Youhanabad neighborhood in Lahore. In the explosions on March 15, 17 worshipers were killed and over 80 people were injured. As Fides learns, the detention provision for the 47 Christians was confirmed by an anti-terrorism court in Lahore, extending the detention to 27 other detainees, in addition to the 22 already stopped. These are the people who, after the attacks, shot dead two Muslims believing them accomplices of the slaughter.
In the days after the lynching, the Pakistani police carried out numerous raids in the district of Youhanabad, arresting up to 300 Christians to try and find the culprits.
The act of lynching in the Christian community has generated unanimous condemnation and disapproval. Even the Pakistani interior minister compared the lynching "to an act of terrorism".
But, according to Christian lawyers, justice should proceed "with the same speed when it comes to Christian victims or religious minorities": "There are numerous cases in the past of lynching against Christians and attacks on entire Christian neighborhoods by Muslim extremists, still unpunished", recalls Christian lawyer Sardar Mushtaq Gill. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 11/05/2015)


Share: