Christians Attacked in Pakistan as Man is Accused of Burning Koran

The radical Muslim crowd has been reported to have attacked and burned Christian homes in three areas near Peshawar, Pakistan on Tuesday night, 28th June 2005. The attacks came after one Christian man was accused of burning papers with text from the Koran, the Voice of the Martyrs (VOM) has learned from local sources.

The accused man, Yousaf Masih is more then 60 years old, working for almost 20 years as a sweeper for the Pakistani military. One of the tasks for him that day was allegedly cleaning the office of a major in his house. He found the bag of "rough papers" as he was cleaning and was told to burn them outside.

As he was fulfiling his obligation and orders from a superior, other workers, seeing the papers said that Yousaf was burning the pages of the Koran. Yousaf, who is in fact illiterate, had no possibility to know the content of the text written on the papers.

Hearing the accusations, he ran away in fear and went to his home in the Lama Veera area of Nowshera, east of Peshawar, in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier.

Later in the afternoon at 3 p.m., police came to arrest him, since according to the effective law in Pakistan, blaspheming Islam, Prophet Mohammed or the Koran is crime punishable by death.

Many Pakistani Christians have been falsely accused of breaking this Law, report VOM; and some have even been killed by mobs after being acquitted of such charges.

During the night, the mob consisting of radical Muslims raided Yousaf's house and beat his three sons and brother. They plundered many houses, and burnt approximately 200 of them in Christian areas of Lama Veera, CMH and Saran.

Police have arrested 16 people involved in attacks and have strengthened police forces in all three areas in order to restore order.

Workers of VOM are on the way to the stricken areas to meet the immediate needs of those who lost their homes.