Worship songs mocked, drunk Muslim boys harass girls attending 

By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in PakistanLAHORE, MANGA MANDI, PAKISTAN (ANS) – A Church of the Nazarene in Talib Sarai in district Manga Mandi some 45 kilometers from the eastern city of Lahore was pelted with stones and bricks by Muslim residents of the area on November 12 hours after Sunday evening mass was disrupted in the Church as some eight Muslim boys who were allegedly drunk began singing a chorus of derogatory words in tune with worship songs being sung by the congregation, ANS has learnt.

A Church of the Nazarene in Talib Sarai in district Manga Mandi some 45 kilometers from the eastern city of Lahore was pelted with stones and bricks by Muslim residents of the area on November 12 hours after Sunday evening mass was disrupted in the Church as some eight Muslim boys who were allegedly drunk began singing a chorus of derogatory words in tune with worship songs being sung by the congregation, ANS has learnt.The disruption by the allegedly drunk party forced the congregation to assemble in front of the Church gate.

Tension mounted when the Muslim boys entered the Church and tried to harass some of Christian girls attending a service. Late in the night bricks and stones were hurled at the church by Muslim residents of the area when efforts aimed at brokering compromise between the Christian and Muslim residents were underway.

According to a Jubilee Campaign, USA news release sent to ANS Pakistan based Centre for Legal Aid and Assistance (CLAAS) learnt about the incident on November 13 and its team did the fact-finding.

“Every week we make two men stand at the church gate to assist those who come to attend the worship service. On the day of the occurrence, Haroon Masih and Ashraf Masih were standing at the gate. It was at about 6:00pm and when 8 Muslim boys, Asif and Zulifiqar and six others, in a drunken stupor, approached the church gate”, the news release quoted Pastor of the Church, Rafeeq Masih as saying.

“They began uttering filthy words in tune with the worship songs being sung by the congregation. Haroon and Ashraf came forward to stop the boys from making fun of the church singing”

“Simultaneously, a few girls were harassed by the drunk boys as they entered the church. Haroon and Ashraf intervened to protect the girls, which further provoked Asif, Zulifiqar and their friends”

“Several church members came to the gate, and the Muslim boys quickly left. When the worship meeting came to an end, Asif and Zulifiqar returned with more friends whom they had called from the Chiragh Factory where they worked. They all were drunk, and equipped with firearms and clubs”, it maintained.

The news release said Asif’s mother Walayat who is allegedly notorious woman also from among Muslims who disrupted the Church service and attacked it later.

“She has been known to hurl insults at the Christians and in the past she attempted to rally the villagers to attack the church”, the news release quoted a Church member as saying.

Pastor Rafiq Masih called the naib-Nazim Khalid Javed to help them with this problem. He also called fathers of Asif and Zulifiqar, and asked them to come to his house, said the news release.

“As the meeting for compromise was going on, the pastor was informed that Asif, Zulifiqar and their accomplices had attacked the church with bricks and stones”.

As the news of attack on the Church reached Naib Nazim he according to the news release gave up efforts aimed at reconciliation and called the Police.

“A patrolling police squad reached the church immediately and the assailants fled the scene”, said the news release.

The news release further said that despite Christian residents of the area told the Police that Wallayat bibi was the mother of the main culprits they did not arrest her and instead arrested three Christian young boys.

“The police squad took those arrested children to the house of naib-Nazim and later released them. Since the incident there have been no talks between the aggrieved church members and the attackers”, it alleged.

CLAAS submitted application with duty officer, Allah Data at the Manga Mandi Police station. According the news release the duty officer said the Police First Information Report (FIR) could not be lodged as Station House Officer (SHO) was not present.