Pak police arrest 2 main suspects involved in attacks on churches, homes of Christians

Pakistani police have arrested two prime suspects involved in the unprecedented attacks on 21 churches and nearly three dozen homes of the minority Christian community over blasphemy allegations, Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi has said.

He praised the efforts of the Punjab chief secretary and inspector general of police, saying both of them played a key role in ensuring the arrests of the key suspects.

An enraged mob ransacked and torched 21 churches and 35 homes of Christians on Wednesday over blasphemy allegations in Jaranwala town of Faisalabad district, 130 km from Punjab's provincial capital Lahore.

In a separate post on Friday, he wrote that mosques across Pakistan's Punjab province will have Friday sermons focussing on the rights of minorities.

Punjab police arrested at least 140 people and registered five cases on Thursday, a day after the violence broke out.

Among those arrested by the police include the main suspect Muhammad Yasin, identified through a video in which he was seen making an announcement on loudspeakers of mosques to incite Muslims against the religious minority.

The members of the extremist group Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) were also among those arrested in connection with the violence.

The Jaranwala incident evoked widespread condemnation, with national leaders and international organisations calling for justice for the people whose homes and places of worship were ransacked and destroyed.

Army chief General Asim Munir on Thursday termed the incident "extremely tragic and totally intolerable" and pledged that perpetrators involved in the attacks will be brought to justice.

Amnesty International, in its statement, has demanded that the authorities must ensure [the] protection of the minority Christian community.

According to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), till August 16, 2023, around 198 persons have been accused of blasphemy, 85 per cent of them Muslims, 9 per cent Ahmadis and 4.4 per cent Christians.

It said Punjab province recorded over 75 per cent of the abuse of blasphemy laws cases in the past 36 years.

The aggregate accused comprises 52 per cent of minorities despite their share (3.52 per cent) in the population of Pakistan, the CSJ posted on X.

Minorities including Christians and Hindus have been frequently subjected to blasphemy allegations and some tried and even sentenced under blasphemy in Pakistan.