Two churches attacked in Pakistan

Police in Pakistan have accused 23 people of arson and damaging property in the torching of two churches on Sunday, Feb. 19, during a protest about the burning of Islam’s holy book in the southern Pakistani city of Sukkur. A Christian rights group condemned the attacks in which about 400 people rallied after a Christian man was accused of burning pages from the Koran. The crowd ransacked the empty churches and set them ablaze. Police have arrested 23 people and have accused them of arson, disrupting the peace and damaging property, said Aftab Hale Pota, chief of police in Sukkur district. The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, a predominantly Christian group which also advocates rights of other religious minorities in Pakistan, condemned the church-burning. “It is a brutal act of religious terrorism which should be condemned at all levels,” Shahbaz Bhatti, the head of the alliance, said in a statement. Bhatti demanded better protection, adding that the “sense of insecurity and fear has increased among the religious minorities after the church attacks”. In Pakistan, burning the Koran or insulting the prophet are considered blasphemous acts and can be punished with the death sentence. Domestic and international human rights groups have called for the blasphemy laws to be abolished, saying they are often abused to get even with adversaries or enemies. Since 1996, the year when the controversial blasphemy law came into force, dozens of Christians have been killed for defaming Islam, 560 people were charged and 30 are still awaiting sentencing.