Ian Ellis: After the recent violence, which saw churches burned and hundreds flee their homes, it's important to maintain a spotlight on the plight of Christians in Pakistan

It was also reported that in the resulting mob violence, three Presbyterian churches, a Roman Catholic church, a Full Gospel Assembly church, and a church belonging to the Salvation Army had been burned.

Some 500 Christian families reportedly fled their homes following the attack.

The WCRC said that Christians “occupy one of the lowest rungs in Pakistani society and are frequently targeted with spurious and unfounded blasphemy allegations”.

Christians are understood to represent some 1.3 per cent of the overwhelmingly Muslim population of Pakistan.

However, because of the large population of the country, this 1.3 per cent amounts to approximately three million believers.

The WCRC called on the government of Pakistan to restore law, order and security, and to offer protection to the minority Christian community, adding: “The WCRC invites all people of good will and all faiths to work together for the peace and well-being of all and asks its members to join in prayer and advocacy on behalf of their sisters and brothers in Pakistan.”

Separately, Dr Jerry Pillay, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), of which the Church of Ireland and the Methodist Church in Ireland are members, issued a statement saying that the reports illustrated “the extremist threats faced by members of the Christian community in Pakistan”.

Dr Pillay, himself a member of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa but now based at the WCC headquarters in Geneva, pointed out that the WCC has long expressed grave concerns regarding the impact of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws on Christians in particular. Calling for the churches to witness against violence and for prayer for equal human rights, he described Christians in Pakistan as “precious and integral members of society”.

Bishop Azad Marshall, moderator of the Church of Pakistan, which is part of the Anglican Communion, called for those who are responsible for ensuring public safety and the administration of justice “to intervene immediately and assure us that our lives are valuable in our homeland”.

However, Victor Azariah, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan, struck a more despairing note and appealed for global support and assistance for the Christian community in Pakistan. Contrasting with reported assurances to the contrary from Pakistan's prime minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, Mr Azariah said: “We Christians are helpless in Pakistan. [We] can’t expect anything from the law-and-order authorities. We simply request the international community to pray for the victims and help those people who have suffered due to this brutality.”

Nonetheless, during a joint conference in Islamabad in response to Jaranwala events, religious scholars from different traditions and political leaders announced the “Islamabad Declaration” to foster both "interfaith and intra-faith harmony", Radio Pakistan reported.

The report also indicated that the participants appreciated how the federal and Punjab governments had provided compensation to affected families and allocated funds for the restoration of affected religious sites of the Christian community.

Prime minister Kakar and nominated Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa visited Jaranwala.

Reuters reported that according to the Punjab's caretaker information minister, Amir Mir, over 100 people were arrested, with individuals engaged in the attacks being identified through video footage.

The news agency subsequently also reported that, according to “a spokesperson and a source”, Pakistani police arrested two Christian brothers accused of blasphemy, police saying that pages of the Koran were found in a street with derogatory comments written on them in red.

The report added that, according to the provincial police chief, one attached extra page carried the names, addresses and national identity card numbers of the accused.

On the Sunday following the attack, services were held at churches that had been vandalised and torched.

Meanwhile, Release International, a London-based charity dedicated to helping persecuted Christians, has indicated that a week before the attack tough new blasphemy laws were passed in Pakistan, and warned that the new laws would only stir up grievances and worsen the growing culture of intolerance in the country.

The charity added that Pakistan’s Centre for Social Justice had reported that more than 2,000 people have been accused of blasphemy since 1987, and 88 have been murdered, simply on the basis of unproven allegations.

I recall during my time at The Church of Ireland Gazette covering the story of Asia Bibi, who in 2010 was convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan following a work argument, and was sentenced to death. Her case drew global attention. Following appeals, in 2018 Pakistan's Supreme Court overturned her conviction and in 2019 she left the country for Canada.

With the Open Doors charity indicating that false blasphemy allegations against Christians are often made to target them after an unrelated dispute, the precariousness of the situation for Christians in Pakistan is clear and their plight must remain very much in the international spotlight.

Canon Ian Ellis is a former editor of The Church of Ireland Gazette.