I recently had the opportunity to visit Gojra and Korian, two towns attacked in the summer by Muslim extremists over the alleged desecration of the Koran by Christians. Four months on and the pain and sense of injustice over those horrific events is still etched on the faces of the Christians who live there. They know the attacks were baseless. This was just another deadly example of Muslim extremists misusing the blasphemy law to settle personal vendettas.

I travelled to Pakistan with Sally and Hamad Bailey from one of our supporting churches, St Paul’s in Slough, and there to meet us at the other end was Joseph Francis, head of CLAAS in Pakistan. The difficulties facing the Christians of Gojra and Korian were apparent. They are still living in tents, their homes having been destroyed in the attacks; some of the children are unable to go to school; many of the adults have been sacked from their jobs by their Muslim employers.

The readiness with which they spoke of their hardship was testimony to how much these people long for justice. Investigations and trials are always a frustratingly long and drawn out process in Pakistan and justice rarely swings in favour of the voiceless Christians. They appeared grateful simply to have their stories heard as they greeted us outside their tents. One of those we met was Nouman Masih, who has just been released from prison following CLAAS’ successful bail application.

We were shown to the ruin of a house where six Christians were burnt to death by the attackers. The house is normally locked but they opened it up so that we could go inside and see the full awfulness of its scorched interior. The heat of the flames had been so intense that even metal objects and utensils had melted.