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| November 14, 2005 | Monday | Shawwal 11, 1426 |
Call for probe into Sangla incident
LAHORE, Nov 13: Bishop Dr Alexander John Malik has demanded a probe by a high court judge into burning of churches and the Holy Bible in Sangla Hill.
Voicing the demand in a statement issued here on Sunday, the bishop said mere allegation did not give anyone a licence to take the law in hand. He said a mob of miscreants had attacked the churches on the pretext of burning of the Holy Quran by some Christians. The police had failed to take adequate measures to protect the Christians despite having been informed about the expected attacks in advance, he said.
He said accountability of those responsible for attacks on churches was necessary because the Christians in the country had started feeling insecure after the Sangla incidents.
CPHD: Condemning the incident, Commission for Peace and Human Development executive director Waseem Anthony said the discriminatory blasphemy laws were the cause of such incidents as these provoked people to take the law into their own hands in the subterfuge of religion.
He said it was an irony that no lesson had been learnt from the burning of Shantinagar near Khanewal in 1997 owing to misuse of the blasphemy laws.
He said the people had misused the laws for settling personal scores during the past two decades. It was a pity that we sought help from the international community on humanitarian grounds on the one hand and set bad examples of narrow mindedness and religious intolerance on the other.
He said not only a judicial inquiry into the attacks on churches was required for bringing the culprits to justice, but it was also necessary to educate the people for promoting religious tolerance and harmony.
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