A group of Christian families were attacked by Pakistani Muslims in the Punjab Province. Though no injuries were documented, 12 families were shocked by the attack on the small Christian community.
Local sources told The Gospel Herald, that the attack happened after what was to be a reconciliation meeting between Muslim and Christian groups that were battling each other over building usage.
On Jan. 4, 2016, police arranged a meet-up between the leaders of the two parties. The Christian group was attended by Bashir Masih, a Christian native of Nawan Pind, Sadho Mahal.
"We obtained written approval from the district police chief, Rai Ijaz, to hold a three-hour prayer meeting in the private courtyard of a Christian, Javed Masih, on Jan. 3, which was a Sunday," Masih said. He then adds that the local police had assigned two police officers to stand as security during the prayer meeting, though it was not mentioned whether the officers indeed showed up for the prayer meeting.
Masih came to the meet-up with six other comrades, but none of the members of the Muslim group came. As the group returned to their homes, a Muslim named Rashid Jutt and 30 other armed Muslims came and started attacking the 30 or more Christians who had gathered for a prayer meeting.
"After waiting for some time, we returned to our homes," he said. "There we saw Jutt and some 30 other men armed with guns, machetes and batons storming through our houses and beating up our boys. We immediately telephoned the police emergency helpline, and a patrol vehicle arrived there after some time. The police rescued our boys from the attackers' clutches, but they did not arrest any of the Muslims."
The dispute continues over the 25-year-old building that Masih and his congregation had been using for years. Jutt claims to have bought the land, but has shown no papers or documents to prove ownership.
