 LAHORE: More than 30 armed men attacked a church and Christian houses in Mominpura Thaiki village near Sharaqpur, 35 kilometres from here, late on Saturday. A decades-old land dispute between Christians and a Muslim landlord from a nearby village is said to be the cause of the incident.
| “... attackers from a nearby village had thrown hand grenades into the church, demolished a part of it, set ablaze two houses adjacent to the church, desecrated holy books, beaten up Christian men, children and women and torn off their clothes...” |
Eyewitnesses said that the attackers from a nearby village had thrown hand grenades into the church, demolished a part of it, set ablaze two houses adjacent to the church, desecrated holy books, beaten up Christian men, children and women and torn off their clothes. They also took valuables from the church. Witnesses said that a number of Christian women fled the village while others took shelter in MuslimsÂ’ houses. Later, local Muslims came to rescue their Christian neighbours. The Muslims, who own about 10 houses in the 65-house Christian village, took their weapons out to rescue the Christian women and children. They opened fire at the attackers and made them flee. But the attackers took one Bashir Masih and his 25 cattle heads with them before leaving the village. Bashir, who lives in the house adjacent to the church, had tried to resist the attackers. As a result, they injured him critically and also ransacked his house. Bashir was still missing on Sunday evening.
| “Mehr Yaqoob, a landlord from the nearby Raajian Araaian village, tried to grab the village land. He forged documents in an attempt to take the village land on lease and a case was registered against him...” |
Joseph Francis, coordinator for the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), said that the Mominpura Thaiki village had spanned 34 acres of land owned by the Forests Department. He said that the residents had shifted to Mominpura after floods washed away their old village in 1988. A few years later, Mehr Yaqoob, a landlord from the nearby Raajian Araaian village, tried to grab the village land. He forged documents in an attempt to take the village land on lease and a case was registered against him, Francis said, adding that several cases were pending against Yaqoob in the courts.
Later on August 7 this year, Yaqoob allegedly attacked the Christian village with armed men to get it vacated and critically injured three Christians. On August 8, Sharaqpur police registered a case against the accused under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), but it did not arrest them. On August 12, the accused were given interim bail and a few hours after their bail they allegedly attacked the Christian village again. |