Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options

A senior police official in Pakistan acknowledged that security forces failed in their duty to protect the victims of anti-Christian violence in Gojra one year ago. The senior official spoke to 2,500 people gathered on Aug. 1 to mark the first anniversary of some of Pakistan’s worst anti-Christian violence. Addressing the crowds in the Punjabi city of Gojra, prominent local Muslims deplored the mob violence that left eight people dead and described the culprits as unworthy to be called Muslims. Amid tight security and a high police presence, Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad presided at a memorial Mass held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Gojra. The bishop lit candles for each of those who died in the violence, including a family of seven killed in their home. On Aug. 1, 2009, a rumor that Christians had been seen desecrating the Koran sparked an Islamist armed attack on the Christian quarter of Gojra and the burning of more than 50 homes.

Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Cardinal Pietro Parolin told some 200,000 people in St. Peter’s Square that Pope Francis had made the message of God’s limitless mercy the heart of his pontificate.
Francis has always been known as “the pope of surprises.”
Gerard O’ConnellApril 26, 2025
“Pope Francis is the pope of the people,” Rosa de los Ríos told America in Spanish before the funeral Mass. “He is very close to the people.... That’s why he was so loved. People felt he was very close to them.”
J.D. Long GarcíaApril 26, 2025
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy met inside St. Peter’s Basilica ahead of the funeral for Pope Francis on the morning of April 26.
Associated PressApril 26, 2025