Lahore, Pakistan - Muslim residents of Gowindh village have boycotted the village’s Christian community after allegedly desecrating the New Apostolic Church early on Wednesday.
The Muslims had asked the Christian community earlier in the month not to use the church’s loudspeaker for the morning service, which was held at the same time as Fajr prayers (morning prayers). The Christian community did not pay heed and a Muslim mob allegedly forced into the church, shouted slogans against the Christians, cut the loudspeaker’s wire and put manure on the church’s walls.
Later, the Muslims announced a social boycott of the Christian community and Muslims shopkeepers refused to sell them anything. Muslim clerics also asked the villagers to protest against the Christians. Because of the boycott, many Christian families had shut themselves in the church.
The Christians came out on the roads and protested against the discrimination. Peter Gill, a former member of the Punjab Assembly, called the police to control the situation.
The superintendent of police sent Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) Athar Rasool to the village to reconcile between the two communities. The SPO has not yet registered a case.
Gowindh is a village on the India-Pakistan border and falls in the Hadiyara police jurisdiction. The village has a population of around 10,000 people including 25 Christian families. There are eight mosques in the village, with most of them adhering to the Deobandi school and one church, which was built before partition.
The village’s Christian residents told Daily Times that the Muslims had been asking them not to use the loudspeaker for their service early in the morning since it disturbed the Muslims during Fajr prayers. They said that tensions had been brewing for many months and had intensified during Ramazan. They said that on Ramazan 27 (Wednesday), Muslims lost their cool and stormed the church.
Muslim villagers said they had repeatedly asked the Christians not to use the loudspeaker during Fajr prayers. “We have no grudges with the Christians,” Muhammad Sadiq, an influential Muslim of the village, said. He said the Muslims had never harassed any Christian because of his or her religion. He also denied that anyone had desecrated the church. He said the Muslim villagers had only cut the loudspeaker’s wire. He denied all other allegations.
The villagers said Additional Station House Officer Muhammad Aslam visited the village and had deployed guards outside and inside the church on Wednesday.
SPO Rasool said the police were working to keep peace in the village and to patch up between the two communities. He said the majority were supposed to respect the views of the minority. He said the police would identify the miscreants on both sides. Human Liberation Commission of Pakistan, a non-government organisation (NGO), has denounced the incident and has asked the government to take appropriate action and protect the rights of the Christian community.