'There was chaos everywhere': The targeted Christians who found shelter with Muslims during Pakistan rampage

Pastor Javed Bhatti was roused from his sleep by the mosque's loudspeaker — not the usual Islamic call to prayer, but a thundering call to protest against alleged blasphemy by Christians. 

Instinctively, he gathered his family and ran to the street, where fellow Christians were already spilling from their homes into narrow alleyways. 

"Blasphemy is a flashpoint issue in Pakistan, where vigilante mobs have killed people accused of insulting Islam or the Prophet Muhammad"

"Some were running barefoot and some fled in rickshaws. There was chaos everywhere," he told AFP, a day after hundreds of Muslim men rampaged through the streets, burning homes and churches.

"The children were shouting, 'Run, run, the clerics are coming! They will attack us'," his sister Naila Bhatti added. 

On August 16, 2023, several hundred people attacked a Christian settlement in Faisalabad district, Punjab province, after two members of the community were accused of committing “blasphemy.” The mob, armed with stones and sticks, vandalised several churches, dozens of houses, and a cemetery.

While the police have arrested 130 people alleged to have been involved in the attacks, residents told local rights activists that hours before the attack, the police warned them a mob was coming but claimed they could do nothing to stop it. On August 16, after the attack, Interim Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar posted on Twitter that, “Stern action would be taken against those who violate the law and target minorities.”

"Christians make up around two percent of the population and occupy one of the lowest rungs in Pakistani society. More than 5,000 live in the Christian quarter in Jaranwala, most of them sanitary workers on meagre wages who occupy cramped homes shared by up to 18 relatives"

“The Faisalabad attack underscores the failings of Pakistan’s police to adequately protect religious minority communities and respond promptly to violence targeting them,” said Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The lack of prosecutions of those responsible for such crimes in the past emboldens those who commit violence in the name of religion.”

In recent months there has been an increase in attacks on religious minorities in Pakistan and their places of worship. The persecution of the Ahmadiyya community is embedded in Pakistani law and encouraged by the Pakistan government. On July 25, a mob vandalised an Ahmadiyya place of worship in Karachi, in Sindh province. On August 18, a mob attacked a factory owned by an Ahmadi in Lahore, accusing him of blasphemy. Instead of prosecuting the attackers, the authorities charged eight members of the Ahmadi community with blasphemy.

"Since 1990, at least 85 people have been murdered in relation to blasphemy allegations"

Blasphemy is a flashpoint issue in Pakistan, where vigilante mobs have killed people accused of insulting Islam or the Prophet Muhammad. 

Since 1990, at least 85 people have been murdered in relation to blasphemy allegations, according to local media and researchers. They have included individuals accused of blasphemy, their children, lawyers, judges hearing their cases, and others. Those killed include members of religious minorities, prominent politicians, students, clerics and the mentally ill. They have been burned to death, hanged by mobs, shot dead in courtrooms and hacked to death on the side of the road, among other forms of attack.

Christians make up around two percent of the population and occupy one of the lowest rungs in Pakistani society. More than 5,000 live in the Christian quarter in Jaranwala, most of them sanitary workers on meagre wages who occupy cramped homes shared by up to 18 relatives.

As panic spread across the neighbourhood, Muslims also rushed to the streets to warn and shelter their neighbours. 

"The crowd came from outside (this area), but the local Muslims here helped us and tried to save us," Pastor Bhatti said.

Tariq Rasool, in the same narrow street as Bhatti, said Muslims had quickly pinned Koranic verses on the doors of Christian homes in the hope they would be spared the violence. 

"Two women were running. I opened the door of my house for them and let them inside. They were very worried but I consoled them," the 58-year-old Muslim said.

The mob swelled in size and anger throughout the day, with hundreds at its peak rioting through the streets. By nightfall, at least four churches and a dozen houses and shops had been burned and ransacked, according to an AFP team at the scene.

Imran Qadri, a Muslim shopkeeper, said both faiths had long lived peacefully alongside each other in the neighbourhood: "They are our brothers. They share our sorrow and joy and we share their sorrow and joy."

He opened his home to two Christian women as they fled the foreseen destruction. "They are still inside our house. My family helped them, provided them with food and they spent the night with us," Qadri said, standing alongside Bhatti.

Further down the street, Parveen Bibi said she was woken up by her young children screaming: "Muslims are coming to burn our houses!"

"We took rickshaws to the home of our Muslim neighbours. The door was open and we all went inside. I was accompanied by women, my two daughters-in-law and children. The women said: 'You are safe here, don't worry'," she explained tearfully, standing in the rubble of her home.

"Though the mob has dispersed and hundreds of police now guard the neighbourhood, many are too fearful to return home yet"

Several Christians who returned to their houses on Thursday to survey the damage told AFP that more than 300 people had fled in the initial hours of the riot, but hundreds more evacuated at night and on Thursday to stay with relatives in other towns. 

Police have arrested more than 100 people allegedly linked to the violence and are searching for two Christian brothers accused of desecrating the Quran.  

Though the mob has dispersed and hundreds of police now guard the neighbourhood, many are too fearful to return home yet.

For Pastor Bhatti, returning has brought more pain for his family: "My own house was destroyed. This was our entire life's earnings. Now how will we live here again?"