Pakistan Court Acquits All 115 Suspects in Burning of Christians’ Homes

A court in Pakistan acquitted 115 suspects who were charged with setting the homes of more than 150 Christian families on fire, saying there wasn’t enough evidence to go forward with the case.

The Christians said their homes were set ablaze because their Muslim perpetrators accused them of blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed.

Chaudhry Muhammad Azam, the anti-terrorism court judge for the district of Lahore, said prosecutors didn’t provide enough facts to show the suspects broke the Anti-Terrorism Act, or that they were guilty of murder, robbery, arson and terrorism, the Indian Express reported.

A lawyer for the prosecution, however, said the judge was wrong.

“This incident not only spread a wave of terrorism in Lahore,” the prosecutor said, the Christian Post reported, “but also brought a bad name to Pakistan.”

The arson took place on March 8, 2013, and was regarded as the largest act of anti-Christian violence since 2009, when nine Christians were killed in the same province of Punjab.

The Christian Post has the story:

“Police arrested the accused two days after a mob of about 3,000 Muslims armed with sticks, clubs and stones burned at least 150 houses of Christians, a church and shops in the Joseph Colony area in Lahore over allegations that a Christian had made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.

“After the incident, a Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, reprimanded the government of Punjab and the province’s police for failing to protect members of the minority community. Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh, a member of the bench, said the violence took place ‘right under the nose of Punjab Police and there was total inaction.’

“The court also said at the time that police at the ‘highest level’ may have been told not to take action when the violence erupted.

“The accused in the blasphemy case, identified as 26-year-old Sawan Masih, and the complainant, his Muslim friend identified as Imran Shahid, had quarreled under the influence of liquor, but the latter claimed it was a case of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

“‘Both Imran and Sawan are close friends and the former has made the allegation only to settle a personal score because they had quarreled over some petty matter,’ a local resident, Dilawar Masih, who lost his house and shop in the attack, was quoted as saying at the time. He added that the attackers burned their houses even after the accused had been arrested.

“Blasphemy is punishable by life in prison or even death in Pakistan.”