CS’s input sought over Jaranwala probe

Formation of inquiry body was demanded to probe blasphemy incident

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court’s (LHC) Justice Asim Hafeez sought input of the Punjab chief secretary over whether or not the judicial commission was being constituted on Jaranwala incident.

The Christian community had demanded the formation of a judicial inquiry committee to fairly instigate Jaranwala incident intimating the LHC over being pressurised by police officials for compromising the assailants as well as the continuous threats to their lives by some Muslims extremists.

The demand had been made by the petitioner Peter Charles Chairman of Grace Bible Fellowship Church Pakistan in his petition he filed in LHC through advocate Shahbaz Fazal Saroya. The petitioner maintained that the state, the local administration and law enforcement authorities badly failed in refraining the flared mob of hundreds from torching nearly two dozen churches and attacking their residences over blasphemy charges in Faisalabad’s Jaranwala town.

The court was also requested in the petition to treat with the all co-accused extremists who are identified in CCTV footage and other relevant evidences.

It was further prayed to pass directions to the concerned quarters to immediately provide financial and administrative resources to victims of Christian community so they can come back to their routine live without facing any serious consequences.

As proceedings commenced today, a reply on behalf of the chief secretary was submitted before the court. The court in that reply was updated that the incident took place on August 16, 2023 and 21 FIRs had been registered in various police stations at Jaranwala as reported by the Inspector General Police (IGP) Punjab.

The reply added up that the government also constituted 10 Joint Investigation Teams (JITs) to investigate the cases.

In light of the reply, it was further requested the court to dispose of the petition.

However, Justice Hafeez adjourned the proceeding by September 15.

The petitioner contended that on August 16, a very unreal fake and frivolous case regarding defiling of Holy Quran unfortunately happened in Jaranwala through the announcement of one fanatic at local mosque, triggering an extreme reaction in the shape of a incident by the flared up mob that torched more than 25 churches.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 14^th, 2023.