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Following the horrific attacks last week, ‘Hope for Pakistan Ministries’ went to Joseph Town, Badami Bagh, Lahore where the raving Muslim mobs had burnt down 178 Christian homes, 75 shops, 2 churches, and over 300 Holy Bibles…all because of an unsubstantiated rumor about a Christian who had insulted the paedophile prophet Mohammed.
Truth about Badami Bagh (h/t Shona D) Faisal Yaqoob, and his brother Yasir Yaqoob went to the burned out neighbourhoods to help the survivors. Here is the story that you will not hear on the major media outlets. According to our interviews, the situation was much different than reported by the media and the government.
This whole area is surrounded by steel factories and these 178 Christian homes and their shops are in the middle of this area. For a long time these people were facing pressure by different factory owners to leave and sell their homes for a pittance – $2,000 – for each home. Nobody was willing to essentially give away their homes.
Islamic mullas would come to the area trying to convert the Christians to Islam but the people would have none of that. Pressure increased on Christians when Muslims bought some land in the nearby area and continued their proselytizng to the Christians. One Muslim opened a shop there and hired a Christian, Mr. Saavan. Soon after, the Muslim shop owner accused him of blasphemy and registered a complaint with the police.
Police arrested this man without any proof. The same evening, police came to the colony and advised the Christians to move out as the situation about the alleged blasphemer was getting very tense. Police came again a few days later and told people to evacuate the area as Muslims were planning to kill them. It’s inexcusable that police had been informed about the plan but did nothing to protect them. Instead the police forced the Christians to leave.
On the day of the attack, thousands of Muslims came with trucks and flammable chemicals. As all the homes were locked, they put flammable liquid on doors and locks and melt steel locks. First, they looted gold, expensive house items, electronics, and loaded them in trucks and took them away. Then they put flammable chemicals on all homes and burnt them down. All Bibles, song books, and other Christian literature were destroyed. Nothing was left. The police did nothing.
After everything was destroyed and the Muslim mob had left the area, fire trucks came and started to put out the fire which took about 11 hours. The losses to the people were huge. Many poor families had purchased furniture, utensils, and electronics to give to their daughters for their weddings; many families had newly married adult children in the family who had their new furniture and household items, they were all looted and burnt.
Politicians are coming out for their political fame. They are accusing opposition parties and trying to polish their political careers. As many TV channels were giving coverage to this incident, Hope for Pakistan team gave several interviews to different news TV channels including Express News, Geo TV, Din News, and Aaj TV.
Our team highlighted the issue that the ordinance 295 B and C is to protect the respect of all prophets and holy books of all religions in Pakistan. This is for all religions, why only muslims are using this for their personal benefits? What about these hundreds of Bibles and two Churches that were burnt, don’t they come under the blasphemy law 295 B and C?
Thanks to ‘Hope for Pakistan’ and the media who were willing to air this on TV. Prime Minister of Punjab, Mohammad Shahbaz Shareef, instructed police to file new charges against the mob. The police inspector responsible and SSP are suspended; over 100 out of thousands of the attackers have been arrested, identified through CCTV cameras. Christians are demanding religious security.
