 After a mob attack on their homes, traumatized Christian residents of Joseph Colony wait to rebuild their lives in make-shift tents
| Lots of verbiage about what happened, but this is the key bit of background: |
The Joseph Colony arson is the largest attack against the Christian community in a major city in Pakistan in terms of damage done. But it is not the first attack of its kind. Since the heinous Shanti Nagar attack in 1997 in which a mob burned down schools, churches and buses, there have been 80 such incidents as per the data compiled by the National Commission for Justice and Peace, a Catholic Church run human rights organization working on religious minorities.
Leading Human Rights activist Asma Jahangir believes state institutions have accepted defeat. "They are simply afraid of the people who use religion for mob violence."
Veteran journalist, activist and academic Dr Mehdi Hassan blames politicians and their lack of will in resolving the problems with the blasphemy laws. "Until the leading political parties develop a general consensus on the issue of blasphemy laws, we will not get anywhere."
| But Pakistan is the Land of the Pure, and the blasphemy laws are taken straight from Sharia. So attempting to change them is itself blasphemy. Q.E.D. |
He said police needed sophisticated training for dealing with a mob which is charged because of what they think is a religious matter.
| Perhaps if the Pakistani police had an Rab, there would be the possibility they could absorb sophisticated training. But they don't, because that would upset parties best not upset. And so the deterioration continues. |
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