Displaced Christian families return home under police protection in Pakistan
Hundreds of Christian families have returned to their homes in Pakistan after threats of mob violence forced them to flee last month. While the threat of mob violence remains, local authorities have assured the Christians that there will be no attacks or violence against them.
On the 27th of December, hundreds of Christian families fled the Charar neighbourhood of Lahore after a local pastor’s faith-based social media post was deemed offensive by Muslims.
“Pastor Raja Waris published a faith-based post on Facebook on the 22nd of December which Muslims claimed hurt their religious sentiments,” Saleem Khokhar, a Christian from Charar, told International Christian Concern (ICC). “The pastor apologised for the post, and the issue was resolved the next day.”
Even though the issue was resolved, a mob of hundreds of Muslims began protesting against the Christians of Charar. According to locals, the mob demanded that Pastor Waris be beheaded for publishing the offending post.
“The situation turned dangerous when someone found out the Muslims were planning to set fire to the houses of Christians,” Khokhar reported. “This forced the Christians to flee the neighbourhood.”
On the 28th of December, Pastor Waris was handed over to police custody, where he has remained. To date, no blasphemy charges have been filed against him for his social media post.
Source: persecution.org
