According to Usman Anwar, the head of the Punjab Provincial Police, more than 80 Christian homes and 19 churches were vandalized in Pakistan this week when a Muslim mob went on the rampage over alleged blasphemy, AFP reported.
“The events that unfolded were tragic. Violence like this can never be justified,” he told AFP, adding that he will travel to the city of Jaranwala on Sunday to show solidarity with the Christian community.
Anwar said he personally interrogated two Christian brothers accused of desecrating the Quran “to avoid accusations of torture.”
Hundreds of Pakistan’s Christian minority fled their homes Wednesday when an angry crowd of Muslim men tore through the streets of Jaranwala, on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad, torching homes and churches.
On Friday, 3,200 churches were guarded by police across Punjab province to provide reassurance to the Christian community, Anwar said.
Pakistani authorities have arrested 150 people as they continue their investigation into the Wednesday attacks on churches in the Jaranwala area of the Faisalabad district of Punjab.“Two Christians were initially accused of blasphemy and later the mobs stormed churches and Christian homes,” Rizwan Ahmed, senior superintendent of police for Pakistan’s Faisalabad district, told The National.
