ISLAMABAD: Days of rioting between Christians and Muslims in eastern Pakistan following allegations that a Qur’an was defiled escalated Saturday, leaving six Christians dead, including a child, authorities said.
Members of a banned Muslim organization began torching Christian homes in the Punjabi city of Gorja on Thursday after accusing them of desecrating pages from Islam’s holy book, Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti said.
“There is no truth in the allegation,” he said, adding that he had himself visited Gojra on Friday and asked police to provide protection to Christians who were facing threats.
Television footage from the scene showed houses burning and streets strewn with debris and blackened furniture as mobs ran at each other.
Local media also reported gunfights had broken out between Christian and Muslim communities and that rioters had blocked the local railway line. Bhatti said the attackers belonged to the banned Sipah-e-Sahaba group, which is accused of launching attacks against the security forces and carrying out bombs attacks at public places in the country in recent years.
Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said authorities had investigated the allegation of a Qur’an being defaced “and our initial reports say that there has not been any incident of desecration.”
Faislabad Commissioner Tahir Hussain told local television that representatives of the two communities were to meet later Saturday in an effort to calm the situation.
Suspect in Pearl murder captured
Elsewhere, police officials said Saturday they had arrested a member of an outlawed, Al-Qaeda-linked group that was suspected of involvement in the 2002 beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Rao Shakir, a purported member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was arrested on the outskirts of Islamabad late Friday, a police official said.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi is a banned militant group linked to both the Taleban and Al-Qaeda and has been blamed for killing scores of minority Shiites across Pakistan.
Its members have been accused of attacks against Westerners in Karachi, including Pearl’s killing and the September 2008 truck bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad.
The group is also believed responsible for two failed assassination attempts against Pakistan’s former military ruler, Pervez Musharraf, as well as several other suicide bombings.
