The horrific visuals of burning churches in Faisalabad, Pakistan, that went viral last month reconfirmed the rapid descent of the country into the abyss of religious extremism. At last count, 21 churches, dozens of Christian homes, and hundreds of Bibles had been sacrilegiously torched.
This horrendous barbarity was allegedly perpetrated by the extremist group, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on the basis of the rumour that torn pages of the Koran with blasphemous words scribbled on them were found near a Christian colony. Shockingly, this disinformation was diffused through mosque speakers.
The situation was redeemed to some extent after several Pakistani clerics mustered the moral courage to condemn the violence. The chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, in a televised press conference, apologised with folded hands to the Christian community.
