Church building vandalized in Pakistan

Police in Pakistan have arrested a Muslim who broke into a church building and desecrated a cross and Bibles after an altercation with Christians, the church’s pastor and police said.

The Rev. Tariq Masih of Feroz Din Taak Memorial Church in Ghanekey village in Kot Radha Kishan, Kasur District, Punjab Province, said that the vandalism took place in the early hours of Monday (Jan. 5) and was discovered when he opened the church for the morning service.

“The accused, who was later identified as Allah Rakha, a rickshaw driver and resident of the same village, entered the church after breaking a window,” Pastor Masih told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “He vandalized the church property, desecrated copies of the Bible, damaged the sound system and altar items and bent the cross installed inside the building.”

Police responded promptly and after investigation managed to locate the suspect in just six hours, he said.

Kasur District Police Officer Muhammad Isa Khan said the arrested suspect had confessed.

“Further investigation is underway, and strict legal action will be taken,” Khan said, adding that police had moved quickly to prevent unrest and reassure the local Christian population.

Kot Radha Kishan police registered a First Information Report under sections 295 and 295-A of the blasphemy laws, which criminalize acts that insult religious beliefs or deliberately outrage the religious feelings of any community. Under these provisions, a conviction can carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years, a fine or both.

The pastor emphasized that the village has not previously witnessed religious violence and that Christians and Muslims have long lived side by side peacefully. That message was reinforced when Muslim residents and worshippers from a nearby mosque visited the church after dawn prayers to express sympathy and condemn the attack. Local Muslim clerics also publicly criticized the act, calling it unacceptable, Pastor Masih said.

The church serves as the sole place of worship for about 200 Christian families affiliated with the Diocese of Lahore of the Anglican Church of Pakistan in the predominantly Muslim village, he added.

Provincial lawmaker Ejaz Alam Augustine, a Christian, said that the attack did not appear to have been driven by organized religious hatred.

“The act was motivated by a personal dispute,” Augustine told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “The suspect allegedly had an earlier altercation with some local Christian youths and later targeted the church as an act of retaliation under the influence of alcohol.”

The desecration of the Bible, cross and other religious items had deeply hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian community but the rapid response by police helped in building the community’s confidence in law enforcement agencies, said Augustine, who visited the village to monitor the police investigation.

Muslim mob attacks over false blasphemy allegations saw churches and Christian houses destroyed in Jaranwala in 2023 and Sargodha in 2024, both in Punjab Province. In both incidents, police personnel were accused of standing by silently during the ransacking of Christian properties and church buildings by rioters.

Over 300 suspects were arrested in connection with the Jaranwala violence, while more than 50 Muslims were detained after the Sargodha incident, but almost all of them have walked free on bail or have been acquitted of the charges.

“The role played by the local police is praiseworthy, and this is due to the current government’s stern policy against religious hatred and extremism,” Augustine said. “However, the deeper challenge is changing the mindset that allows religious hatred to surface again and again.”

Pakistan, whose population is more than 96 percent Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.