The minority speaks: Two priests condemn the violence unleashed in Lahore

Father Gill says the man who committed blasphemy should be awarded death penalty if he was actually found guilty.

SUKKUR:

Father Yaqub Gill from Saint Mary’s Church, Sukkur, and Father Muneer from Saint Saviour’s Church, Sukkur, condemned the incident in Joseph Colony, Lahore, on Saturday in which a 100 houses were torched by an angry mob.

“The Punjab government has failed miserably to protect the lives and properties of its minorities,” said Father Gill in an interview with The Express Tribune.  “What justification is there in torching the houses of a hundred Christians if the man who committed the blasphemy was already in police custody,” he asked.

Father Gill went on to state that the man who committed the blasphemy should be awarded the death penalty if he was actually found guilty. “However, the men who started the fire also committed blasphemy because they torched a number of copies of the Bible in the process. They should also be punished,” he said.

“The clothes and other necessities that people had brought for Easter, which is celebrated on March 31, were reduced to ashes,” he explained. “Many families had bought dowry for their daughters who were supposed to get married after Easter which was also ruined.”

He went on to add that the damage from the incident could have been minimised if the police had acted in time.

Quoting similar mob riots that took place in 2009 and 2006 after some people allegedly made blashphemous comments, he said that no steps had been taken to apprehend the culprits. “We are enjoying a ‘confined religious freedom’ which allows us to preach but only within the four walls of our churches,” said Father Gill. “We can’t even use a loud speaker without the permission of the relevant SSP.”

“Cases like these were unheard of before 1988 when the blasphemy law was introduced,” interjected Father Muneer from Saint Saviour’s Church. “There is nothing wrong with the law itself but it has often been used to victimise people from certain communities.” He went on to give the example of a little girl, Rimsha Maseh, who had falsely been accused of blasphemy by a Muslim cleric in August, 2012. “The law needs to be applied with a lot of care as being charged of blasphemy is a very sensitive matter.”

Father Muneer and Father Yaqub demanded that the government compensate the residents of Joseph Colony for their losses without any delay.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2013.