Minority group seeks judicial commission

The chairman of the Minorities Alliance Pakistan, Akmal Bhatti, has demanded that the government should constitute a judicial commission headed by a high court judge to investigate the desecration and ransacking of 21 churches and 350 houses in Jaranwala within a week.

Addressing a news conference, he warned that the Christian community would be forced to take to the streets on Sunday if the commission was not formed.

He said the incident showed a failure of the authorities over not providing protection to the community and leaving all its settlements on the mercy of rioters from dawn to dusk, while the law enforcing agencies played the role of a silent spectator. He said members of the community ran for safety under the open sky.

“It is the need of the hour to heal our wounds inflicted during incidents of violence in Jaranwala, Sangla Hill, Shanti Nagar, Joseph Colony and Gojra. The caretaker government does not have the capacity to give us a relief and is not willing to arrest the culprits,” he added.

He added the LEAs had registered seven cases but to no avail.

“We have no platform to raise our voice and threats were being hurled at our beleaguered community not to name the elements responsible for mayhem,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 22^nd, 2023.