On Wednesday, 19 churches and more than 80 Christian homes in Pakistan were ransacked after the inhabitants of the city of Jaranwala were accused of blasphemy against Islam. Perhaps the most unacknowledged aspect of the violence was just how expected it was.
Nationwide, non-Muslim places of worship, especially churches, have been on high alert for the past month following burnings of the Quran carried out in Sweden by anti-Islam protesters. All the Islamic clergy and groups in Pakistan needed was an excuse to ignite the tinderbox.
It’s unfortunate that Pakistan can’t seem to muster even residual security for some of its citizens
The excuse was provided by a rumour that desecrated pages of the Quran were found near the home of a Christian family in Jaranwala. Such ‘evidence’ can easily be fabricated, or planted, to implicate someone in Pakistan. The accusation is, anyway, a mere formality since both the vox populi, and the country’s penal code, assert that the intangible, victimless crime of outraging Islam merits violence.
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