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Sangla Hill: Muslims and Christians pledge peace

* Committee set up to resolve issue
* Archbishop consecrates churches
* Noted Muslim cleric calls for abolishing Section 295 C

By Ali Waqar

LAHORE: Sangla Hill’s Muslim and Christian communities have moved towards a compromise to end the ongoing tension in the city since a Muslim mob burned churches on November 12.

The leaders of Christian and Muslim communities met on Thursday and pledged harmony and peace in the city. They lamented the incident and decided that the accused would apologise to the Christians.

Local Christians told Daily Times that they had to opt for a compromise because “the government’s role in resolving the issue is not encouraging”. They also referred to a Lahore High Court judicial inquiry into a similar incident in Shanti Nagar in 1997, when a Christian village was burnt “but no action was taken”.

The findings of a judicial inquiry have not been published so far. The accused are freely moving in the city and police have not taken any action against them.

During the meeting, Maulana Ibrahim Sialvi, a member of the provincial peace committee and head of the Lahore and Faisalabad district peace committees, called for the removal of Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), related to blasphemy. However, other Muslim clerics said the issue should be left to the parliament.

It was unanimously decided that a 10-member committee (five Muslims and five Christians) would sum up the issue and the culprits would apologise to the Christians. It was also decided that a permanent Muslim-Christian harmony committee would be set up to deal with all such matters. Church leaders and Muslim clerics made speeches calling for peace and harmony in the city. The Christian leaders said that people should be educated against the misuse of blasphemy laws.

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Chairperson Asma Jehangir, who is also a special rapporteur on religious freedom for the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, said the issue was not only related to Sangla Hill but all of Pakistan. She called for respecting each other’s religious viewpoints and urged equal citizenship rights for every one. She condemned religious terrorism of all kinds. She also called for removing discriminatory laws.

Representatives of Aurat Foundation, the National Commission for Justice and Peace, the Citizens Commission for Human Development, the Joint Action Committee (JAC) for People’s Rights, provincial and local church officials, clerics, members of the Punjab Assembly, local government representatives, nazims, the district coordination officer and district police officer were also present.

Rev Lawrence John Saldanha, the archbishop of Lahore, visited Sangla Hill on Thursday and consecrated the burnt churches. The churches are now open for worship.

After an allegation of the desecration of Holy Quran, three churches and Christian institutions and properties were set on fire on November 12. Police arrested the accused, Yousaf Masih, under Section 295 B of the PPC and 88 Muslims on charges of creating lawlessness. The desecration allegation surfaced after two Christian and two Muslim gamblers quarrelled outside Quran Mahal, a public place which has a room to store torn pages of the Holy Quran.

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