Pakistan: Justice for Jaranwala victims
In a conversation with Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), Bishop Samson Shukardin, the president of the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, praised a Supreme Court decision to reject a government report on the official response to the attacks in Jaranwala last August, which were described by Church leaders as the “worst incident against Christians” in the nation’s history. In a single day, more than 25 churches and up to 100 Christian homes were torched.
Qazi Faez Isa, the Chief Justice of Pakistan and head of the Supreme Court, described the report as being “[worthy of] the dustbin.” According to the Court, the report lacked relevant information, like details of arrests, and investigation agencies were seemingly not determined to bring the perpetrators to justice.
At a Supreme Court hearing about the report, a Punjab law officer stated that after 304 arrests, only 22 cases had been registered, with just 18 charge sheets collected. The court ordered that a fresh report be submitted within two weeks, warning the authorities that they may face suspension if they fail to thoroughly perform their investigations.
In his ACN interview, Bishop Shukardin, who heads the Diocese of Hyderabad in Sindh Province, described the Supreme Court’s reaction to the government report as “very positive for us as Christians. This is the first time…the Supreme Court has taken this issue so seriously.” The Court’s decision came amid reports of a widespread breakdown in trust between the police and the Christian community in Pakistan.
Church leaders say that people are disillusioned as a result of the delays in justice. There is fear that the police are not committed to protecting Christians and other minorities at risk. One Church leader told ACN, “In Jaranwala, they have lost confidence in the police. Every time there is an incident, the police arrest people – even Christians – but nothing happens.”
Bishop Shukardin said that another ray of hope came from the people in Jaranwala, including Muslims, who used social media to share information about the atrocity, as well as pictures and video of it“The local people were the first to bring the news. In other words, they took the news, told people, and showed them reality. This time, the ordinary people agreed that this should not be happening.”
Bishop Shukardin’s comments follow last month’s launch of Persecuted Yet Again, a report on the Jaranwala incident and its aftermath, held in the UK Houses of Parliament. Persecuted Yet Again, produced by Pakistan’s National Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, shows that the violence was planned, the police were slow to react, but local Muslims defended Christians against their attackers.
The report was produced in conjunction with ACN UK, which hosted the event. The meeting was chaired by Lord Alton of Liverpool, with Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore providing an analysis of the atrocity.
—John Pontifex
