Mob violence erupted in the Sanda area of Lahore, Pakistan Sunday night after a mentally ill Christian man allegedly burned the Quran, Pakistan Today reported.
Humayun Masih, who is mentally unstable and has had a problem with substance abuse, was seen burning newspapers with holy verses by a few Muslims. An enraged mob then dragged him to a nearby police station and demanded a First Information Report (FIR) be filed. The police authorities, however, did not take them seriously. a cleric then purportedly made an announcement from a nearby mosque and urged Muslims to come out of their homes in order to protect the honor of the religion, according to Rev. Riaz Arif of the St. Joseph Church in Sanda, Daily Times reported.
There have been a number of contradictory news reports from sources in Pakistan and local news agencies, but many of them have reported that an angry mob of Muslim men took to the streets of Sanda in order to protest, obstructing roads and demanding that Masih be burned alive. Other news reports claim a church was attacked and several Christian houses were looted by the mob, according to The International Business Times.
At least 40 people have been placed under arrest and 500 others have been charged after mob violence erupted, according to the Economic Times. A cleric and the leader of a religious party were among those detained. The suspects were accused of ransacking more than a dozen houses belonging to Christians and damaging a church. In order to bring the violence under control, authorities deployed paramilitary forces in the area.
Christians are the largest religious minority in Pakistan, where there have been many incidents of persecution against minority religious groups and the blasphemy laws of Pakistan have been used against Christians. For instance, a Christian woman by the name of Asia Bibi was punished by death for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad, according to The Telegraph. Two years ago, more than a hundred houses were burned down in a Christian locality in Lahore after a Christian was accused of making blasphemous remarks, according to The Independent. In a more recent incident, two churches in Lahore were vandalized last month, killing 17 people and injuring many others, according to Al Jazeera.
