n August 16, several hundred people in Jaranwala, most of them quite young, engaged in acts of wanton violence, resulting in the destruction, burning and vandalism of churches and houses belonging to the Christian community in the town. The outbreak of violence was blamed on an allegation of desecration of pages from the Holy Quran. The original allegations remained uninvestigated.

In video clips that have gone viral on social media platforms, the youth can be seen demolishing places of worship and vandalising structures and motifs held sacred in Christianity. Burning of pages from the gospels and other items at the churches was also reported. In some of these clips, law enforcement personnel can be seen as passive observers.

“We were hoping for a fair investigation, but in the meantime, some extremist factions started calling on people to come together and ‘teach these Christians a lesson’”, a priest says.

“Around two dozen churches, big and small, and many houses belonging to the Christian community have been vandalised. Many people have gone into hiding to save their lives,” the priest continues.

Initially, some individuals from the area complained to the police that one Saleem Masih had committed an act of blasphemy by writing derogatory remarks about revered personalities in Islam on a piece of paper.

Locals say on August 16, some individuals saw a woman throwing some papers in the street in the Christian Town. These papers reportedly contained blasphemous content and mentioned the names of Saleem and his deceased father, Bashir. A complaint was made to the police, who did not immediately register a case. Instead, Saleem’s two sons, Umar and Umair (also called Rocky and Raja), were named as suspects. Some of the neighbours have said the two were not named in the original complaint.

People from a religious group were later seen using loudspeakers to discourage people from attacking the Christian community. “We are looking into the matter and compiling data regarding the extent of the losses,” a police official says. He adds: “Fortunately, nobody was killed or injured during the rioting.”

Speaking to The News on Sunday, Caretaker Information Minister Amir Mir said that an initial investigation by the Punjab Police suggested that the blasphemy allegation was a deliberate ploy to incite violence. He said Inspector General Dr Usman Anwar had personally visited the area and informed the government of the early findings. “We will take the culprits to the task,” he said.

Until last week, the police had filed cases against more than 1,200 miscreants and arrested more than 100 people for engaging in various acts of violence. 

Until last week, the police had filed cases against more than 1,200 miscreants and arrested more than 100 people for engaging in acts of extremist violence. The revelation by the minister, according to some analysts, strengthens the fears about the misuse of blasphemy allegations to settle personal or political scores. Additionally, it highlights the escalation of religious extremism, which allows the targeting of marginalised communities with impunity.

In another recent incident, some unidentified people killed a teacher of English language at a private academy in Turbat, Balochistan.

“It was highly unexpected. According to the initial investigation, there was some discussion between the teacher, Abdul Rauf, 22, and some students about a recent attack by terrorists in Bajaur that killed more than 80 people. The next day, some of the students accused the teacher of blasphemy,” a senior police officer in Turbat says.

A body of religious clergy then invited him to sort out the matter. He was expected to tender an apology. However, he was killed on his way to the meeting. According to the fellow teachers and students who were accompanying him, he was shot in the chest and died on the spot.

Separately, a court in Hassan Abdal awarded the death penalty to Sajid Ali, in his sixties, under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code for committing blasphemy, a charge he had denied throughout the proceedings.

“The case was lodged after the accused and the complainant had a religious debate,” Sarmad Ali, lawyer for the convict, says. He says the state must form a high-level body to review the situation.

Mob violence, explained in religious terms, is growing in the society. This is a worrying trend, particularly since the political will to put it down has not been sufficiently visible. The mobs have been targeting not only the country’s non-Muslim population but also sects and factions within Islam. A new law enhancing the penalty from two to 10 years in a section of blasphemy law related to derogatory remarks about revered personalities has been enacted recently.

Dozens of Ahmadiyya minority’s places of worship have been attacked and vandalised recently by violent mobs for no apparent provocation. Columnist Raza Rumi blames “the ideological reconstruction of the Pakistani state and society since the1980s” for the dangerous trends.

The writer can be reached at vaqargillani@gmail.com. He tweets @waqargillani