Pakistani missionary schools closed on Monday for three days to mourn the deaths of seven Christians burnt alive in clashes with majority Muslims in a small Pakistani town at the weekend, a top priest said.
Four women and a child were among those killed in the violence that broke out in Gojra in Punjab province on Saturday, after Muslims torched Christians’ homes following unsubstantiated allegations some of them had desecrated the Qur’an.
About 40 homes were burned down in total.
Government officials have said preliminary investigations showed there was no desecration of the Koran and that a ”rumour” was being exploited by anti-state elements to create chaos.
Police have registered a complaint against some government officials and more than 800 unidentified men, as Christian leaders demanded justice for those behind the killings.
”Christian schools will remain closed for three days from today to mourn the death of innocent people in Gojra,” said Bishop Sadiq Daniel, head of the Church of Pakistan diocese in Karachi and southwestern Baluchistan province.
”There is no proof of blasphemy, but if someone has done that he, and not the entire community, should be punished.”
Desecration of the Koran is punishable by death in Pakistan.
While Christian schools and colleges in Punjab are largely closed for summer vacation, they were set to reopen in Pakistan’s biggest city of Karachi on Monday.
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country and religious minorities, including Christians, account for roughly 4% of the 170-million population.
Muslims and minorities generally live in harmony but there have been periodic attacks on Christian targets since the country became a United States ally following the September 11 2001 attacks on the US.
Pakistani newspapers on Monday ran an appeal from leading Muslim clerics calling for calm and restraint.
The clerics called for punishment if the desecration did take place, but urged the Muslim community not to take the law into their own hands.
”Every Muslim of Pakistan should provide complete protection to innocent non-Muslim fellow citizens and play his religious and national role to curb every kind of mischief-making,” the appeal read. — Reuters