Mob sets church set on fire near Sialkot

SIALKOT: A mob protesting against alleged desecration of Holy Quran by some Christian youths torched a church in a village near Sambrial, about 30km from here, on Friday afternoon. The protesters also ransacked two houses adjacent to the church.

According to reports reaching here, 15-year-old Hina was going home after attending a Quran class in a mosque in her Jaithikey village when five people, identified as Fanish Maseeh, Saleem Maseeh, Qaisar Maseeh, Danish Maseeh and Nadeem Maseeh, allegedly snatched the holy book from her and threw it into a drain.

A large number of villagers armed with bricks, stones and sticks attacked the church and set it on fire.

Rescue 1122 personnel rushed to the place and extinguished the fire.
All markets in Sambrial and adjoining areas were closed and police patrolled the village to avert further violence.

Gujranwala Commissioner Hashim Tareen, acting DCO of Silakot Tariq Zaman, DPO Waqar Ahmad Chohan and local legislators visited the village and held talks with leaders of religious groups.

The DPO told reporters that the father of one of the accused had been detained and the people involved in the incident would be arrested soon.

Local Christian leaders condemned the burning of the church.

Emanuel K. Gill, Bishop Samuel Pervaiz and Javaid Silvestre told reporters that the situation was alarming and the government had failed to protect minorities and their places of worship.
They demanded that those who attacked the church should be arrested.

Senior police officials claimed that the attackers were local people.

There are more than 100 houses of Muslims and 30 of Christians in the village. All the Christians have left the village to save their lives.

(Dawn)