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Catholic World News News Feature

Pakistan: Islamic mob assaults Christians November 14, 2005

Three churches, a convent, two Catholic schools, the houses of a Protestant pastor and a parish priest, a girls' hostel, and some Christian homes, were first vandalized and then set on fire by an angry crowd of around 2,000 people in the village of Sangla Hill, in the Nankana district of Pakistan, this weekend, the AsiaNews service reports. At least 450 Christian families fled from the village and they have not yet returned for fear of further violence.

Archbishop Lawrence John Saldanha of Lahore Archdiocese told AsiaNews that "the attack seems to have been planned and organized, as the attackers were brought to the site in buses and instigated to commit violence and arson." The Lahore archdiocese deplored the failure of police to stop the violence.

The attacks were apparently motivated by a new case in which a Christian youth was arrested and charged with violating the country's blasphemy law. Christians say the charges are false, and the young man was accused by neighbors who were angry with him because of a business dispute. Nevertheless, local Islamic preachers preached fiery sermons, inciting large crowds to attack Christian institutions.

[For a more detailed story see the AsiaNews web site.]