Pak deploys troops as riots toll rises: officials

(AFP) – 2 août 2009

ISLAMABAD — Paramilitary soldiers were Sunday patrolling a remote Pakistani town as the death toll from riots between muslims and christians rose to seven, officials said.

An angry mob of muslims attacked a residential area of the minority christian community on Saturday, torching 40 houses and a church in Gojra district, about 160 kilometres (99 miles) west of Lahore.

The violence broke out over the alleged desecration of a Koran.

Six people were killed in the rioting while the charred body of another christian was found overnight, officials said.

« A total of seven christians were killed and 14 injured, » local administration chief Tahir Hussain told reporters.

Authorities deployed paramilitary rangers in the area and arrested 12 suspects, he said, adding that three were from a banned sectarian group.

Provincial law minister, Rana Sanaullah, who visited the violence-hit town Sunday, promised to pay compensation to the affected families.

« We have identified those who attacked, they are terrorists, these people want to destabilise our country, » he told reporters.

« We will give compensation to the victims, we will pay them for all the losses they suffered, » Sanaullah said.

Earlier, more than 1,000 christians staged demonstrations in Gojra and demanded the arrest of those involved in the attack.

« People were very angry, they have said they will not bury their dead until the government assured the attackers would be arrested, » Father Shabbir Masih said.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has ordered an inquiry into the alleged desecration of the Koran, officials said, adding that he has appealed to the residents of the area « to remain calm and demonstrate restraint till the inquiry is finalized. »

The unrest between a group of muslim and christian villagers first flared late last month over the « desecration » of the pages of a Koran, but the matter was thought to have been resolved amicably, police said.

However, tensions erupted again on Saturday when the christian group were attacked again and their houses set on fire.

Desecrating the Koran is punishable by death under the blasphemy laws of muslim majority Pakistan, although no executions have been carried out for the crime.

Christians, who make up less than three percent of Pakistan’s 160 million population, claim the blasphemy laws are used as an excuse to victimise them.

Fires of hate in Gojra

Gojra is a mess. There was widespread communal violence in the town on Saturday and initial reports said masked men were on the rampage and a rally had been fired upon, leaving many injured. The administration was struggling to control the situation as local businesses were shut down. Trains were blocked and a number of arson attacks took place. This fresh wave of violence was related to the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran by three Christian men in a village on the outskirts of Gojra.

A day earlier, on Friday, a mob had set some 70 houses belonging to the Christian community in the village on fire. It was an administrative failure and even though ‘notice’ of the acts of arson ‘was taken’ by the chief minister, the prime minister, the president and the administration looked totally helpless in the face of the repeat of violence, this time in Gojra city on Saturday.

A federal minister and a provincial minister dispatched to the area on Friday could do little to defuse the situation. On Saturday, Dost Muhammad Khosa, Punjab minister for local government, tried desperately to pacify the enraged crowd. Few were prepared to listen to Mr Khosa’s pleas and the police were left with no option but to resort to tear-gas shelling in an effort to restore order. The injured included policemen and at least one senior administration official.

This is a typical blasphemy case in its various details. What is unfortunately changing is the scale and intensity of the reaction as well as its frequency. Only a few weeks ago, rows upon rows of houses belonging to Christians were set on fire in Kasur.

Compensation was promised to the affected but while the government might have felt satisfied over the ‘final settlement’ of the issue, observers were shocked by the ferocity and freedom with which the act of violence was carried out. Gojra reconfirms the fear that the state is finding it harder with the passage of time to protect citizens under attack by vengeful, organised and well-armed groups. It is one of the grimmest examples of the tattered nature of our social fabric. It will take contributions from everyone to sort this out.

A major problem is that the very people who are central to establishing peace between communities and sects are the biggest political beneficiaries of violence perpetrated in the name of faith. Missing from our line of defence against intolerance is the local cleric and the leader of the religious party who is prone to resorting to blackmail to get what he wants. He must move before he is also consumed by the raging fires. Meanwhile, the state can at least be unbiased.

Pakistani Rioters Kill 7 Christians, Destroy 40 Homes in Punjab

Aug. 2 (Bloomberg) — Seven Pakistani Christians were killed during several days of violence involving members of a radical Muslim group in the country’s central Punjab province, after allegations that a Koran had been desecrated, a government minister said.

At least 40 houses were burned during rioting that started on July 30th in Gojra village, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the provincial capital of Lahore, said Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti.

“The incident occurred on the basis of a misunderstanding that a Koran has been defaced. A judicial commission will inquire into the incident,” Bhatti said in a telephone interview from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

The government has suspended senior police officials, as “some religious leaders are trying to make political gains,” Bhatti said. He didn’t identify the radical Muslim group involved in the riots.

The death toll may rise and the situation remained tense into the night, Kamran Michael, provincial minister for minorities, told the Associated Press. At least 10 people had been wounded, four by gunshots, and two of the injured were in serious condition, Michael said.

Christians account for 1.6 percent of Pakistan’s predominantly Sunni Muslim population of 160 million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Pakistan’s legal system discriminates against minorities, as Muslims can give evidence against non-Muslims, while non- Muslims are barred from giving evidence against a defendant who happens to be a Muslim, according to the UN Refugee Agency.

Christians Killed in Pakistan Violence

http://www.voanews.com

01 August 2009

Authorities say six Christians, including four women and a child, have been killed in clashes with Muslims in Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab.

The provincial minister for minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, said a group of radical Muslims burned the homes of Christians in the city of Gojra Saturday, after accusing them of desecrating Islam’s holy book, the Koran.

Bhatti said there was no truth to the allegations.

Television footage from the scene showed houses burning and streets strewn with blackened debris. There were also reports of gunfights.

Provincial officials urged both the Muslim and Christian communities to show restraint.

Elsewhere, police said Saturday they had arrested a member of an al-Qaida linked group, suspected of involvement in several attacks including last year’s suicide bombing of Islamabad’s Marriott Hotel.

Authorities detained Rao Shakir, a suspected member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, on the outskirts of Islamabad this week.

In other news, schools in Pakistan’s northwest re-opened Saturday, for the first time in three months.

Schools were closed during intense fighting between Taliban militants and the Pakistan military that erupted after the collapse of a peace deal.

The students said Saturday they were happy to be back in class, although many were still absent. Most of the nearly two million people who fled the fighting have yet to return to the area, which includes Swat Valley, Lower and Upper Dir and other areas of Malakand district.

The militants, who fought to impose strict Islamic law (Sharia) in parts of northwest Pakistan, targeted schools, especially those that taught girls. More than 350 schools were damaged or destroyed.

Students from the damaged schools learned lessons in tents Saturday.

Pakistan’s government began allowing the displaced to return, after saying it had cleared parts of the northwest of Taliban militants.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 2 août 2009.

Publié dans दंगा, émeutes, riots