Christians demonstrated in cities across country on Sunday to protest after a mob torched more than 100 Christian homes following allegations of blasphemy. More than 3,000 people rampaged through Joseph Colony, a Christian area of Lahore, on Saturday after allegations that a Christian had allegedly committed a blasphemous act earlier.
Around 150 people have been arrested, police said, and though no-one was killed the incident highlights the religious tensions affecting country as it prepares for a general election expected in May.
In Lahore Christians protesting over the attack and demanding greater protection clashed with police, who used batons and tear gas to disperse them after they blocked a busy road, senior police officer Abdul Ghaffar Qaisarani said.
There were also minor clashes between police and protesters in Karachi and further demonstrations in Islamabad, Multan and Quetta.
The Punjab government initially promised 200,000 rupees ($2,000) compensation to each family affected by the violence, but chief minister Shahbaz Sharif raised this to 500,000 rupees after visiting the scene on Sunday.
"The chief minister declared that the repair work of all the houses would be completed in 72 hours," a senior Punjab government official said.
A group of 30 senior clerics in Lahore issued a fatwa (religious ruling) on Sunday condemning the attack on the Christian community as criminal and un-Islamic, Fazal Karim, the chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council said.-AFP
BR Staff Reporter from Lahore adds: Members of the Christian community staged furious protests in the provincial capital and elsewhere in Punjab on Sunday against the burning of houses in Badami Bagh.
Hundreds of Christians took to the streets in Lahore, shouting slogans against the Punjab government, accusing it of failing to protect life and property of minority groups.
The main protest was staged at the Mall Road in front of the Punjab Assembly and Ferozpur Road and Raiwind Road, effectively paralysing traffic.
Police tried to disperse the protesters by resorting to aerial firing and baton-charge.
The protests were staged on the call of President of the National Council of Churches of Pakistan Bishop Dr Azad Marshal.
According to the Bishop of Lahore, a protest rally was staged in Faisalabad, from Katchehri Bazaar to the local Press Club, which was also attended by local Muslim clerics. Protests, he said, were also staged in Mandi Bahaudin and Gujranwala.
Meanwhile, the Punjab government said that the families affected by the Badami Bagh incident would be given new residences. Punjab government's spokesperson Senator Pervez Rasheed said that the local Christian community would soon be rehabilitated, adding that they would also be handed over compensation cheques of Rs500,000 per family.
Pervez Rasheed said that more than 100 houses would be rebuilt by the provincial government.
The Christian neighbourhood of Joseph Colony in Lahore was attacked by a mob on Saturday after a Christian sanitation worker allegedly committed a blasphemy.
According the sources in the Rescue 1122, as many as 178 houses, 18 shops and two churches were damaged by fire.
Meanwhile, a PPP MPA, Pervaiz Rafiq, resigned on Sunday from the Punjab Assembly in protest against the Badami Bagh violence.
Rafiq said the Badami Bagh violence proved that the Punjab government and law-enforcement agencies had failed.
Police, he said, made no attempt to stop or arrest the vandals and miscreants.
According to sources Police rounded up at least 150 persons on Sunday after demonstrators attacked and torched houses of Christian community.
Police, government officials and rescue teams were still determining the exact extent of damage.
DIG Operations Rai Tahir Hussain said that a crackdown was being carried out against criminals and so far as many as 150 suspects had been rounded up.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah said that people involved in the massive arson incident would be arrested.
BR Staff Reporter from Karachi adds: A mob on Sunday attacked shops on the Zaibunnisa Street following protest demonstrations staged outside Karachi Press Club to condemn the Badami Bagh arson attack in Lahore.
Members of the mob also beat up some shopkeepers and shattered the huge glass display panels when they refused to shut down their businesses. They also damaged motorcycles parked along the Zaibunnisa Street.
Reacting promptly, shop owners tried to stop members of the mob from damaging and looting their premises.
Officials of law-enforcement agencies reached the spot late and dispersed the mob after a delay of at least an hour, using water cannons and resorting to baton-charge and aerial firing.
The furious mob also damaged offices and vans of two media outlets in the vicinity.
Police detained at least a dozen of the protesters, but later released them. Several vehicles, including two ambulances, were also damaged. When Rangers personnel arrived at the spot, protesters also pelted stones on them.
Sources claimed that "miscreants belonging to a particular political party had deliberately tried to sabotage a peaceful protest".
Sources said that police arrested 28 political activists who were later released.
Some unidentified men tried to storm into the Trinity Church near Zainab Market, but were stopped by police and Rangers. The Shahrea Faisal area near FTC was also blocked for some time by protesters.