Muslims fired gunshots and threw fuel bombs at the homes of Christians in a village in Pakistan at 2 a.m. on Feb. 12 for supporting an opposing political party in last week’s elections, Morning Star News reported.
No one was hurt in the attacks in Chak 6/11-L village in Sahiwal District, Punjab Province, by area Muslims also upset about Christians constructing a church building, residents said.
More than 20 armed men led by Imran Yousaf, also known as Mana, attacked three houses of related Christians, said Arshad Masih.
RELATED: Check out more stories on the persecuted church here.
“They threw petrol bombs at our homes and fired gunshots on the gates, damaging property worth hundreds of thousands of Pakistani rupees,” Masih, who has filed charges, told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Fortunately, no one was killed or injured in the attack.”
While an area clergyman said the assailants were upset at the Christians’ support of a candidate of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in the Feb. 8 national elections, Masih said the suspects also nurtured a grudge over the church building.
“Ever since my family built the church two years ago, these men have been trying to pick fights with us,” Masih said. “They call us ‘Chuhras’ [a pejorative term used for Christians] and are always finding ways to pressure us into closing the church.”
He was sleeping in the house of his brother, the Rev. Hashmat Masih, pastor of the church, when the assailants threw fuel bombs into it, with several valuables damaged by fire, he said.
After attacking Tahir Masih’s house, the Muslims opened fire on the house of Arshad Masih’s brother, Shaukat Masih, on the same street.
“Luckily, no one in the family was injured as they had hidden themselves inside the house,” Arshad Masih said.
The timely arrival of police forced the assailants to flee, keeping them from harming the Christians, he said, adding that officers have yet to make any arrests.
Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, as it was the previous year.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by Morning Star News.
