Disrupting church service: Ex-lawmakers’ nephew accused of defiling Bible

Apologises to the Christian community, locals say.

LAHORE:

The nephew of a former PML-Q provincial lawmaker, accompanied by three other armed men, is said to have forcibly entered a church, disrupted the Sunday service and allegedly desecrated a copy of the Bible besides manhandling the people attending the church service.

Eyewitnesses told The Express Tribune that the incident occurred in Lakhoki village in Kahna. Witnesses said Muhammad Shoaib alias Mota, the nephew of former MPA Mansha Sindhu, entered the church accompanied by Iqbal Kumhar, Ashiq Machhi and another man, shouted at the congregation to turn off the loudspeakers and pushed down the dais.

Liaquat Masih, a witness said that Shoaib “threw the Bible towards the wall, and desecrated the Cross.”

The men, people said, were armed with a 44-bore gun and a 30-bore pistol.

Witnesses said all of the attackers appeared to be drunk. The people also accused the police of “avoiding registering an FIR”. Sohail Johnson, another person from the village, said that the PML-Q MPA, Mansha Sindhu, belonged to the village.

Liaqat Masih said that when they warned the local SP that they would stage a protest, he sent Mansha Sindhu for reconciliation, adding that Sindhu pacified the community. He said that Sindhu also made his nephew publicly apologise, adding that Shoaib admitted he was drunk at that time.

Superintendent of Police (Operation) Malik Awais told The Express Tribune that he avoided a communal clash and tried to settle the matter amicably.

The SP denied that the accused were drunk or carrying any weapon and said that loudspeakers were “not even allowed in mosques,” adding that no Bible was desecrated.

He said the Christians were making false allegations and exaggerating the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2011.