Suo motu notice taken of Christian killings

Police were called from across the province to ensure security

The Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court (LHC) took suo motu notice on Tuesday of the killing of two Christian brothers, who had been accused of blasphemy, outside the Faisalabad district court on Monday while they were in police custody.

The Chief Justice directed the Regional Police Officer (RPO) Faisalabad Aftab Cheema to appear in court on Wednesday with a full report on the incident, along with the advocate general Punjab.

The funerals of the brothers took place on Tuesday amid tight security, and were attended by a large number of mourners, who remained peaceful. The FIR for the murders has been registered against unidentified persons but arrests have not been made as yet.

Rashid Emmanuel and his brother Sajid Emmanuel had been accused of blasphemy and were in police custody when shot dead. Their deaths triggered riots in Christian neighbourhoods of Dawoodnagar and Warispura, of which they were residents. The heavy deployment of police remained in place in the area as does Section 144, which was imposed on Monday night.

To guard against further rioting, extra police personnel have been summoned from Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Lahore and Rawalpindi.

Cheema refused to give a timeframe for the removal of extra security, saying it is going to remain in place for some time yet as the situation is still potentially volatile.

Meanwhile, Father Aftab in Faisalabad, who is part of the peace committee comprising Muslim and Christian religious scholars, says that the police are to blame for “criminal negligence”. According to Father Aftab, community members had alerted the police that the accused required extra protection, given the nature of the case, but the required level of security was not provided.

Calling the murders a conspiracy to sour relations between Muslims and Christians, Aftab said that what happened on Tuesday is reflective of what is happening to people of all faiths in Pakistan on a daily basis.

“The issue doesn’t just concern the minorities but all of the country,” Father Aftab said.

He toured the Christian neighbourhoods on Tuesday with MPA Kamran Michael to try and pacify the community, which, he said, was extremely upset over the murders.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani telephoned Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif on Monday night to discuss the security situation in Faisalabad.

President Asif Ali Zardari asked the minister for minority affairs Shahbaz Bhatti to investigate and report on the matter. He also instructed the provincial government to pay compensation to the family of the victims. Agencies  (with additional reporting by Asim Awan and Ghulam Dustageer )

Published in The Express Tribune, July 21st, 2010.