Christian’s houses burnt in Joseph Colony Lahore

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LAHORE: Thousands of angry protesters on Saturday set ablaze more than 178 houses/shops belonging to Christians over a blasphemy row in Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s most populous province, Punjab, officials said.

Over 3,000 protesters turned violent over derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) allegedly made by Sawan Masih, 28-year-old Christian.  Joseph Colony is a Christian neighborhood in Badami Bagh, Lahorewhich is belonged to a middle-class families from the Christian minority. President of Pakistan Mr. Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf have ordered an immediate inquiry into the attacks. Police arrested Swan Masih, a sanitary worker, who also ran a one-table snooker club, was arrested on Friday night while the incident actually happened on Wednesday evening.

The arrest was made when Swan Masih’s friend Shahid Imran complained that he had made blasphemous remarks about Prophet Mohammed (saww). Protesters began to assemble in the area on Saturday morning and later set on fire houses and other items including furniture, crockery, auto rickshaws, bicycles and motorbikes belonging to local Christians. Thick clouds of smoke engulfed the small houses, mostly consisting of one or two rooms, and many of them looked like parts of charred walls,” said an eyewitness.

“At least 160 houses, 18 shops and two small churches were burnt by protesters,” Raza, who was busy in rescue operations in the area, told the foreign news agency. Police baton-charged the protesters to disperse them from the neighborhood  There was no loss of life reported during the violence but 20 policemen were slightly injured during clashes, officials said.

Footage of violence from the scene showed many masked members of the mob damaging or burning down the households. Chief Minister Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, said in Lahore that the government would not spare those involved in the attack. But in the other hand it was his failure when the Police and the government of Punjab was totally failed to stop these violent.

Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the population is Muslim, and allegations of insulting a religious figure prompt violent outbursts of public anger, even when unproven. Religious schools student were active in this worst kind of sectarian violence. It is strongly condemned by our  head of the ISIJ. 

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