Pakistan (MNN) — A mob in the Punjab province of Pakistan torched up to 32 churches and several homes in a Christian neighborhood. The attacks were sparked on Wednesday by a false blasphemy accusation leveled at some local believers. Radical Muslim leaders then stirred up hundreds of people to lash out at the Christian neighborhood in Faisalabad.
However, World Mission’s Greg Kelley says it may not be over.
“What we’re hearing is that Christians right now all across this country are terrified. They’re literally terrified because what they’re hearing is that Muslims are planning similar attacks in other cities.”
The Minar of a Masjid in Faisalabad, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy of Asfand Yar/Unsplash)
The Pakistan government has arrested nearly 150 people connected to the mob and deployed more than 6,000 police to the area. But is it enough to stop more coordinated attacks?
Kelley says, “Let’s not forget, this is the second most populated Muslim country in the world and you have 135 million people living in that country. It’s about 1% Christian. So this is a massively highly-concentrated Muslim community, and the scary part about it is how quickly that mob can be mobilized.”
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“They’ve lost everything,” says Kelley. “There’s opportunities to sow into organizations like World Mission and others who will be responding to this tragedy.”
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Also, Kelley says, “We can pray for church leaders who are going to be intimidated and be shying away from preaching the Gospel with boldness, but that’s exactly what we need from them right now in Pakistan.”
Header photo courtesy of World Mission.
