Muslim mob attacks Christians for desecrating the Koran

Dozens of Muslims in Pakistan have “violently attacked” a Christian minority settlement over alleged blasphemy, police said.

The mob attack took place in the city of Sargodha in Punjab province and left several people injured.

Several witnesses and minority rights activist leaders confirmed that protesters had looted and burned down houses, including the house of a small shoe factory owned by a 70-year-old Christian.

The seventy-year-old was accused of desecrating the Koran and attacked.

At least ten Christians were rescued and brought to safety before the crowd was dispersed, a police statement said. Several of them sustained injuries and were treated at a local hospital.

The statement noted that 10 officers were injured in clashes with angry protesters and that police had deployed hundreds of additional officers in and around the Christian settlement to help defuse religious tensions.

Senior provincial police officials reported the arrest of up to 20 suspects in connection with the mob attack and announced further arrests as operations continued.

They said an investigation into the blasphemy allegations was ongoing.

Violent mob attacks on religious minorities are not uncommon in Muslim-majority Pakistan.

In August 2023, thousands of people in the Jaranwala district of Punjab state attacked and burned 21 churches and damaged more than 90 Christian buildings after accusing two Christian brothers of blasphemy.

Several Christian families fled their homes due to the violence. Police arrested more than 250 people, including three Christians accused of desecrating a Koran.

Insulting the Koran or the Islamic faith is punishable by death under the country’s blasphemy laws.