Pakistan bishop: No justice for Jaranwala
In an interview with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a bishop said that his call for justice has gone largely unheeded since the attack on August 16, 2023, when more than 20 churches were torched, and at least 100 Christian homes were gravely damaged.
A bishop in Pakistan expresses his disappointment with the authorities for failing to bring justice in one of the country’s worst attacks attacks against Christians and for not doing enough to help. Bishop Indrias Rehmat of Faisalabad says that seven months after the atrocities in Jaranwala, Punjab, those those arrested are gradually being released and that nobody has been charged in connection with the violence.
Bishop Rehmat said, “More than 300 people were arrested [following the attack], but it is unlikely that they will face justice. Slowly, they have started releasing them. Nobody has been charged.” The bishop went on to criticize the government’s repair of three damaged churches, as the buildings are still unsafe to enter.
“I went to see the government’s work repairing damaged buildings but told them to stop. They wanted to show the media that everything was okay, but they had just whitewashed the walls,” he said. “They renovated three churches. The Prime Minister came and saw this. Still, I could smell the smoke. It is not safe to pray under these roofs.”
“It is now more than seven months since the attack,” he added. “We want justice. Then it will be a lesson to others.”
While thankful for the government’s commitment to compensating victims, Bishop Rehmat said that far more was needed. “We have had lip service from the government, but not enough has been done in reality.”
“We have been distributing help; other brothers and sisters are helping, too. But we do not see enough of this at an official level. Still, they have not caught the culprits. This makes the people scared.” The bishop said that he discussed his concerns in a meeting with police officials in Faisalabad.
The meeting came after the Supreme Court of Pakistan dismissed the Punjab government’s report on its response to the Jaranwala incident, with Chief Justice Qazi Faiz Isa saying the document was “worth throwing in the trash.”
The court criticized the report for lacking detail and only giving limited information about the authorities’ progress in pursuing justice. The report stated that despite the registration of 22 cases and the arrest of 304 individuals, only 18 First Information Reports (FIRs) had been submitted over a six-month period.
In the ACN interview, Bishop Rehmat explained that the Church, led by local parish priest Father Khalid Mukhtar, had been working with victims seeking justice in the wake of theft and property damage. He also gave a progress report on renovation work supported by ACN and other organizations, saying that the Church was close to completing repairs, notably redecoration work, in 150 Christian homes damaged on August 16th.
The bishop said that the Church had provided families with furniture, beds, glasses, and crockery to replace the items lost in the attack. Just before Easter, using funds provided by ACN, the bishop distributed aid, including one-month of food rations and other household items.
Regarding future support, the bishop said that 15 families will be given motorbikes, and 13 will receive autorickshaws, to help them find work as taxi drivers and couriers. Up to 400 children will get school stationery, as well as books and school bags.
The bishop thanked ACN for its support for the victims of Jaranwala: “We are very grateful for this great level of support. All of us — myself, my priests, my people — pray for ACN and its benefactors.”
—John Pontifex
