PAKISTAN Christians Attacked, Church Desecrated In Punjab Village

(January 22, 2009) Catholic priests and NGO workers visited the Christian community in the Punjab village to try to improve relations between Muslims and Christians after a Catholic church was attacked and several people beaten. A team from the Catholic bishops' National Commission for Justice and Peace and the non-governmental Human Rights Commission of Pakistan visited Kot Lakha Singh on January 19 on fact-finding and solidarity mission. Father Francis Chaman, the local parish priest, and Father Andrew Nisari, vicar general of Lahore archdiocese, accompanied the team. The priests distributed fruit to local Christians, assured them of the Church's support and prayed for peace to return to the area. The visit was made after a group of 70 people, all Muslims, on January 14 broke into Christian houses, beat eight Christian men and women and then attacked a small Catholic church. The assailants hurled bricks at the church and forced their way inside, where they burned a copy of the Bible and damaged furniture. Christians filed a First Information Report on the attacks with the local police. They alleged the assailants robbed their houses of 45,000 rupees (US$560) as well as some gold. No arrests have been made to date. Meanwhile, Muslim villagers have called for a social boycott of the Christian community in Kot Lakha Singh, 90 kilometres southeast of Islamabad. About 25 Catholic and Protestant families live in the village."We want friendship and harmony in the community, which after all has to live together, but it should be with dignity," he said, adding that they will strive for justice for the oppressed and the arrest of the culprits. This is the third Catholic Church attacked this year so far in Pakistan.