LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – A 25-year-old Christian is in police custody in Lahore, Pakistan after he shared another person’s post critical of Islam on his Facebook page, sources said.
Hundreds of Muslims converged on Raja Warris’ neighborhood in the Charar area of Lahore on the night of Dec. 26, threatening to behead the outreach lay leader and set fire to homes unless police arrested him, said the Rev. Ayub Gujjar, vice moderator of the Raiwind Diocese of the Church of Pakistan.
“The incident took place after Warris shared a post on Facebook on Dec. 22, which was deemed blasphemous by local Muslims,” Gujjar told Morning Star News.
Warris apologized to the Muslims in person, saying he had shared the post for academic understanding between Christians and Muslims and did not mean to offend any Muslims, and the issue appeared to be resolved—temporarily, Gujjar said.
“On Dec. 26, we were informed by our congregation members in Charar that a huge mob had gathered in the locality on the call of a cleric affiliated with the extremist religio-political outfit, Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan [TLP], and were demanding the beheading of the catechist,” Gujjar said. “Fearing violence, hundreds of Christian residents fled their homes while around 400 anti-riot policemen were deployed in the area to thwart violence.”
When Gujjar and other local church elders reached the Defence-A Police Station to meet with the assistant superintendent of police, a large mob gathered outside the premises and chanted slogans against Christians, he said. Officers insisted that church leaders hand Warris into their custody to cool tempers.
“We sought time for negotiation with the protest leaders, but the police said they could not guarantee the safety of our people if the accused was not presented for arrest,” Gujjar said. “We reluctantly agreed to bring Warris but demanded that he be kept at an undisclosed location due to the serious threat to his life.”
Police on Dec. 27 registered a First Information Report (No. 1122/20) against Warris under Section 295-A and Section 298-A of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and showed it to the mob leaders, who then called off the siege, Gujjar said.
Section 298-A provides for up to three years in prison for derogatory remarks about a “holy personage,” in this case Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and Section 295-A calls for up to 10 years in prison for “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outreach religious feelings.”
Police have relocated Warris, his wife and two children to a safe house for their security, Gujjar said.
Church leaders have engaged with Muslim clergy in attempts to restore calm and extricate Warris from the case, said Bishop of Raiwind Diocese Azad Marshall.
“Warris is an educated youth who loves to serve God,” Marshall told Morning Star News. “I was deeply concerned about the situation in Charar, as any wrong action could have resulted in violent riots that could have put the lives of our people at risk. We immediately got in touch with senior government and police officials, which helped in restoring order in the neighborhood, and fortunately no loss of life and property was reported.”
