LAHORE: When the high-ups from the Punjab government visited Jaranwala, they made tall claims and promises that they would make the Jaranwala attacks an example so that no such incident might occur in Pakistan again. They said no group or individual would be allowed to take law into their own hands. We believed them and waited for two years, we went to courts, joint investigation team (JIT) and police officers but it all proved futile as only one person in the case was imprisoned. When the main accused who had burnt Saint John’s Church was released, the local people welcomed him with flower petals, garlands and drum beats.

This was stated by Shakeel Bhatti, a victim of the Jaranwala attacks on Christians and Churches and a member of the Minority Rights Movement. He was speaking at a conference on “Jaranwala tragedy of Aug 16, 2023: Condition of minorities in Punjab, govt steps and our strategy” at the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) on Thursday.

“It was such a big incident as 27 churches, countless copies of the Bible, houses were burnt and looted but there was no proper investigation. Nobody is ready to listen to us. On the other hand, any group or specific party can carry out any such attack at will without any hurdle.”

Pointing out the issues of the judiciary, Shakeel said that a judge of anti-terrorism court (ATC) in FIR number 78/23 asked the complainant about ‘Maal Muqadma’ and when the complaint replied to him that police were supposed to provide it, he was threatened with jail. Shakeel asked, “if judges have this attitude, where would the people like us go for justice?”

Speaking about the investigation into Jaranwala incident, Shakeel, who himself is a complainant in a case after the attacks, said the victims did not even know about investigating officers while his own and four more FIRs were ‘sealed’ by the judge. “When we consulted the DSP (legal) concerned, he termed it a routine matter. We went to the RPO for a change of investigation 15 to 20 times, but nothing happened.”

HRCP moot takes stock of situation two years after the attacks

In one case, the revenue department declared that there was no church at the mentioned site despite all the evidence available, he pointed out and added that the committee made for assessment and losses had not met victims or stakeholders and it was assessing losses on its own and only one family among several families living in the same building was given compensation.

“We held a sit-in from Aug 16 till Sept 2 and the federal govt functionaries promised us to resolve our issues but nothing happened. When we protest, written threats are delivered to our houses that we would again be attacked if we don’t stop the protest,” Shakeel lamented.

Journalist and rights activist Munizae Jahangir said due to the involvement of the chief minister and prime minister, we thought that the Jaranwala incident would become a test case for the government but despite passage of two years, only one person, who is not even the main accused, was in custody. “It seems that only one institution in Pakistan is majority while all the rest are in minority.” She pointed out that censorship in Pakistan was so bad that everybody thinks before speaking.

“The state should make its position clear whether it’s standing by us or by those who carried out the attacks in Jaranwala,” she said and added that such incidents were a result of the policies of Gen Zia. Referring to certain religious groups, she said they were raised for the state’s ulterior motives and they started hounding the minorities whether they were Shia Hazaras in Balochistan or Christian minorities in Punjab. She pointed out that it was a caretaker government when the Jaranwala incident happened. “Anwarul Haq was the caretaker prime minister and he did not visit the burnt houses during his Jaranwala visit but went to a hall and the man who was escorting him was the person who was included the groups that attacked the churches.” She said things might have been different had the PM been a political person.

Ms Jahangir said the politicians would also have to decide about what position they take about certain religious groups. He said that civil society was still standing its ground though admitting that it was weak at the moment.

Christian rights activist Lala Robin Daniel said the investigators who had to collect samples in Jaranwala did not consult the victims. He said there was widespread looting before the arson attacks. “In the 23 FIRs, no local people or houses were included in the investigation. The judges were told that it all happened due to religious reasons but they were not told that the attackers were the looters.”

He informed the audience that five FIRs were registered on complaint of the state and the rest were registered on the complaint of private persons but in the latter case, the complainants were forced to say that blasphemy was the cause of attacks. He pointed out that initially two Christian boys were accused of blasphemy but 46 Christians were arrested and out of those arrested, about 10 were tortured so much that they could not walk properly now. On the other hand, 300 attackers who were arrested from the site were not even touched.

“Each FIR says that police arrived and made the attackers run away but no police official was made a witness in any case. As many as 3,200 footages are available, including those recorded on mobile phones of policemen, but forensic was not done. Even in the main FIR, the complainants don’t know their investigation officers who never visited the sites,” Lala Robin added.

Samson Salamat of Rawadari Tehreek said the ATC made for speedy justice had released the accused on bail despite 100s of arrests and now the same released people were issuing threats to the victims who had been made more vulnerable.

“Thirty-eight so-called minority members are considered our representatives in the assemblies but the parties had the right to choose them instead of Christians.” He said the minority representatives did not represent the Christians but the political parties or their leaders while the Christians had no voice in the assemblies.

Pastor Rueben Qamar of Presbyterian Church, Lahore, Faraz Siddique of Saint Paul Church, Faisalabad, and Charles also spoke.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2025