About 1,000 Pakistani Christians have fled their homes and are having difficulty finding places to sleep following attacks by mobs in Jaranwala, Punjab Province.
The attacks followed an allegation of blasphemy against two Christians in the city.
Many Christian families have sought refuge outside the city and depend on friends and relatives for survival.
A group, Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), said about 21 churches and chapels, regardless of their denominations, were targeted in the attacks with many of them razed.
Christian Today quoted the ACN as reporting that the level of destruction has been “down to the last lightbulb.”
It said the Christians were forced to sleep in sugar cane fields after narrowly escaping the rampaging mobs.
ACN said, “They had been running away, trying to find somewhere they could rest. Some of them went back to their homes desperate for something to eat but when they got home, they found everything destroyed – nothing to sit on, nothing to drink out of, not even a lightbulb.”
“As we travelled round the area, we could see how the Christians’ homes were scattered – 50 or 60 here, two or three over there and yet every Christian home has been targeted, nothing left.”
Christian leaders in Pakistan have condemned the new wave of violence and demanded justice.
Bishop Benny Travas, in a letter to ACN, accused the government and authorities of failing to protect Christians, noting that the violence showed that Pakistani Christians are “in reality second-class citizens to be terrorised and frightened at will.”
Travas stressed, “Once again, we have the same old condemnations and visits by the politicians and other government officials expressing their solidarity with the Christian community and that ‘justice will be done’ but in reality nothing materialises and all is forgotten.”
“I urgently call upon the Punjab Government to take swift, decisive and resolute action against those responsible for perpetrating this heinous act. The culprits must be identified, apprehended and brought to justice,” Archbishop of Islamabad-Rawalpindi and President of Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Joseph Arshad, said.
Bishop Azad Marshall, the moderator of the Church of Pakistan, said in a tweet, “Words fail me. We, bishops, priests and lay people are deeply pained and distressed at the Jaranwala incident.
“A church building is being burnt as I type this message. Bibles have been desecrated and Christians have been tortured and harassed, having been falsely accused of violating the Holy Koran.
“We cry for justice and action from law enforcement and those who dispense justice and the safety of all citizens to intervene immediately.”
Christianity is the third largest religion in Pakistan with about 1.27 per cent of the country’s population, according to the 2017 Census.
With about 240 million adherents, Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in the world. Islam is the state religion.
In its 2023 world watch list, Open Doors, a Christian watchdog, ranked Pakistan seventh among 50 countries where Christians experience the most persecution.