LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Police in East Pakistan have arrested dozens of Muslim men and charged them with attacking a Christian father and son on charges of desecrating pages from Islam’s holy book, officials said Monday.
The crowd went on the rampage on Saturday after locals spotted burnt pages from the Quran outside the home of the two Christian men and accused the son of being behind it and setting fire to their house and cobbler’s shop in the town of Sargodha in Punjab province, said a senior police officer. officer Asad Ijaz Malhi. They also beat up the son.
Malhi said police rescued the two injured men and transported them to a hospital where their condition was stable, and at least 33 men were arrested following multiple police raids. Authorities were pursuing others who may have been involved in the attack, he said.
The fire completely burned the factory and parts of the house, residents and police said.
The Punjab Police said in a statement that it has increased security in churches.
Accusations of blasphemy are common in Pakistan and under the country’s blasphemy laws, anyone found guilty of insulting Islam or Islamic religious figures can be sentenced to death. Although no one has been executed on such charges, the mere accusation can often spark riots and incite mobs to violence, lynchings and murders.
However, the latest violence brought back memories of one of the worst attacks on Christians in Pakistan in August 2023, when thousands of people set fire to churches and Christian homes in Jaranwala, a district in Punjab province.
Muslim residents at the time also claimed to have seen two men desecrating the Quran.
