Mobs in the eastern Pakistani city of Faisalabad have attacked the local Christian community, setting dozens of houses on fire and vandalizing at least five churches.
Officials said the August 16 incident in the city’s Jaranwala municipality was sparked after two Christians were accused of blasphemy and desecrating the Koran.
Local Christian leader Akmal Bhatti said the mobs had been incited by statements made by religious leaders in city mosques.
Social media posts that could not be verified seemed to show photographs of burning churches and other destruction.
Local police said the two accused men had escaped the area.
They called for calm, while city officials requested federal assistance to restore order. The website Dawn.com reported that police were negotiating with protesters, some of whom have blocked a local highway.
On the X social-media site, formerly known as Twitter, Bishop Azad Marshall of the Church of Pakistan wrote that “Christians have been tortured and harassed having been falsely accused of violating the Holy Quran.”
He called for “action from law enforcement and those who dispense justice” to restore order and protect the Christian community.
The United States urged Pakistan to investigate, voicing deep concern that churches and homes were targeted.
"We urge Pakistani authorities to conduct a full investigation into these allegations and call for calm," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. He added that while the United States backs free expression, "violence or the threat of violence is never an acceptable form of expression."
Blasphemy against Islam is punishable by death in Pakistan. Although no one has been executed for the crime, there have been many cases of suspects being lynched by enraged mobs.
International human rights groups have condemned the law, which they say is often abused to settle scores.
Hundreds of people accused of blasphemy are being held in Pakistan’s prisons because judges often postpone hearing the emotionally charged cases.
In February, police in Punjab Province arrested at least 50 people accused of kidnapping and lynching a man who had been detained on blasphemy charges. A mob of hundreds broke the man out of a police station and killed him.
In April 2022, a Pakistani court sentenced six men to death for the lynching death of a Sri Lankan man accused of tearing a poster that bore an inscription from the Koran.