Another serious attack on a Christian family in Sargodha
A blasphemy accusation in Sargodha district, Punjab – the region finds no peace. A report by Anthony Javed.
On 25 May 2024 I was in my office as usual when, at about 12:15, I received a call from my friend Nabeel Zaib in Sargodha. He told me about the critical situation there. I immediately called our team in Germany and asked for money for the journey, as our team wanted me to go there as quickly as possible.
Sargodha is 162 km from Faisalabad, about two and a half hours on the motorway. The bus was cancelled because of the situation, so we hired a car to Mujahid Colony. A large police force was controlling the area. Nobody was allowed to take photos or videos, not even the press; the police cordoned off the badly burned building of a shoe factory. We did not give up, secretly took photos and videos and spoke with the people living there.
Everyone told the same story: the Christian family had done nothing against a holy book of the Muslims. Rather, people were jealous of their business, as their own shoe factory gave them a solid income. Two days earlier the family had argued with a Muslim family and filed a complaint with the police.
In revenge, extremists burned their own holy book in front of the Christian family's house early in the morning. At around 9 o'clock a large crowd came to the factory and attacked the eldest family member with bricks. The attackers wanted to burn the old man alive, but the police arrived in time and rescued him. The mob even attacked the ambulance taking the badly injured man to hospital. According to the family, around 800 extremists were present.
Thank God there were no deaths. Unlike in the tragedy of Jaranwala, the police here in Sargodha actively protected the Christian families.
Anthony Javed