What was this crap about
Islam being a religion of peace?
Hundreds of people in the eastern
Pakistani city of Lahore ransacked a Christian neighborhood Saturday and
torched dozens of homes after hearing reports that a Christian man had
committed blasphemy against Islam's prophet, said a police officer.
Blasphemy is a serious crime in Pakistan
that can carry the death penalty but sometimes outraged residents exact their
own retribution for perceived insults of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan is
overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim and people of other faiths, including the nation's
small Christian community, are often viewed with suspicion.
The incident started Friday when a
young Muslim man accused a Christian man of committing blasphemy by making
offensive comments about the prophet, according to Multan Khan, a senior police
officer in Lahore.
A large crowd from a nearby mosque
went to the Christian man's home on Friday night, and Khan said police took him
into custody to try to pacify the crowd. Fearing for their safety, hundreds of
Christian families fled the area overnight.
Khan said the mob returned on
Saturday and began ransacking Christian homes and setting them ablaze. He said
no one in the Christian community was hurt, but several policemen were injured
when they were hit with stones as they tried to keep the crowd from storming
the area.
But Akram Gill, a local bishop in
the Lahore Christian community said the incident had more to do with personal
enmity between two men — one Christian and one Muslim — than blasphemy. He said
the men got into a brawl after drinking late one night, and in the morning the
Muslim man made up the blasphemy story as payback.
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