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ISLAMABAD —A crowd in majority-Muslim Pakistan assaulted a Christian locality in an eastern part of the country and set on fire several buildings, including churches, over allegations of blasphemy.
Local police said the vandalism had occurred in Jaranwala, a small town in the industrial district of Faisalabad, after a Christian boy was accused of desecrating Islam's holy book, the Quran.
Pakistani authorities did not immediately share details of the losses the enraged mob had inflicted on the minority community, but Christian leaders reported significant damage to multiple churches and houses.
"Words fail me as I write this. We, Bishops, Priests, and lay people are deeply pained and distressed at the Jaranwala incident," Azad Marshall, moderator bishop of the Church of Pakistan, said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
"Bibles have been desecrated and Christians have been tortured and harassed having been falsely accused of violating the Holy Quran," he added.
Marshall demanded that Pakistani authorities immediately bring those responsible to justice and ensure the safety of all citizens.
Pakistan's caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar vowed "stern action" against those behind Wednesday's attack.
"All law enforcement has been asked to apprehend culprits and bring them to justice. Rest assured that the government of Pakistan stands with our citizenry on an equal basis," Kakar said on X.
Akmal Bhatti, the head of Minorities Alliance Pakistan, said the crowd had torched at least five churches and looted valuables from houses their owners had abandoned after Islamist clerics made announcements in mosques inciting the mob.
"Despite this, the police officers could not deploy the necessary security for the protection of the colony and the property in time," Bhatti said after visiting the affected community. "Today, we have suffered great pain and sorrow when our churches were desecrated and burnt."
The independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan condemned the mob assault against the Christian neighborhood, accusing the government of failing to protect the country's religious minorities.
The police chief of the central Punjab province where the incident occurred confirmed to local media that the protesters had vandalized "portions of the churches" and said his officers were trying to calm the situation.
Blasphemy is a highly sensitive issue in Pakistan, and mere allegations have led to the mob lynching dozens of suspects, some even in police custody. Insulting the Quran or Islamic beliefs is punishable by death under the country's s blasphemy laws, though no one has ever been executed.
Critics have long called for reforming the blasphemy laws, saying they are often misused to settle personal scores. Hundreds of suspects, mostly Muslims, are languishing in jails in Pakistan because external pressures deter judges from moving their trials forward.
"Civil society organizations reported judges were reluctant to exonerate individuals accused of blasphemy, fearing vigilante violence," the United States said in its annual report on the human rights situation in Pakistan.
The State Department 2022 report quoted civil society groups as stating that courts often failed to protect the rights of religious minorities against Muslim accusers in blasphemy-related cases.
"While the majority of those imprisoned for blasphemy were Muslim, religious minorities were disproportionately affected. Lower courts often failed to adhere to basic evidentiary standards in blasphemy cases, and most convicted persons spent years in jail before higher courts eventually overturned their convictions or ordered their release," the report said.