The bishops' conference of England and Wales has accused the Pakistani Government of failing to protect its Christian citizens after suicide bomb attacks at two churches in Lahore killed at least 14 people and injured almost 80.
Declan Lang, Chairman of the Bishops’ Conference Department for International Affairs, said: “The weekend massacres in Lahore showed in the most terrible way just how vulnerable Pakistani Christians, and other communities, are to extremist political violence."
He drew attention to a statement by Karachi Archbishop Joseph Coutts which criticised the Government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for not implementing a 2014 Supreme Court order to provide security in all places of worship.
The archbishop's statement "makes clear what the Pakistan Government’s responsibilities are and how much more needs to be done to protect its citizens," said Bishop Lang, who is to remember the victims during a Mass at Clifton Cathedral on Thursday.
Archbishop Coutts of Karachi, Pakistan’s most senior Catholic, criticised Mr Sharif and his chief ministers for not implementing a 2014 Supreme Court order to provide security in all places of worship.
In an email to the Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Archbishop Coutts said: “This new act of terrorism has cruelly shown how defenceless we are due to this neglect.”
He added: “Once again, the state has not been able to provide safety to its citizens.”
Pope Francis said he felt “great pain” over the suicide bomb attacks, in which nearly 80 people were also injured.
Departing from his scripted remarks he told crowds at St Peter’s Square: “These are Christian churches. Christians are persecuted, our brothers spill their blood simply because they are Christians.”
Two Taliban suicide murderers attacked St John's Catholic Church and Christ Church, an Anglican church, in a Christian neighbourhood of the Pakistani city of Lahore.
Zahid Pervez, the top health official in Lahore, confirmed a death toll of 14 and told reporters that 78 people were wounded in the attacks on the churches.
Among the dead were two policemen who had been duty at the entrances to the churches and had tried to stop the bombers from entering.
Two other suspected militants were beaten to death in rioting that followed the attacks in the Youhanabad district of Lahore, which is the country’s most densely populated Christian colony.
A photographer with the news agency AFP said he saw the bodies of the two suspected militants on fire after the beating. It was not clear whether they were still alive at the time.
The Pakistani Taliban’s Jamaat-ul-Ahrar faction claimed responsibility for the attack in an email to the media in which they vowed to continue fighting for the enforcement of Sharia law.
AFP reported that hundreds of Christian protesters clashed with police and attacked their cars and public buses.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif issued a statement condemning the bombings and “directed provincial governments to ensure the security of (the) public and their properties”.
The National Commission for Justice and Peace, which acts on behalf of the Pakistani Catholic Church, accused the security forces of negligence, because it said personnel had been watching a cricket match when they should have been protecting churches.
NCJP national director Fr Emmanuel Asi and executive director Cecil S Chaudhry stated: “Although [extremists] claim responsibility for the twin church attack in Youhanabad, Lahore, the fact remains that the… security at the time of [the] attack were busy watching [a] cricket match rather than performing their duty of protecting the churches.
“In result of this negligence, many Christian people have lost their life and families their loved ones.”
The Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), which supports Pakistan’s Christians, said the Government needed to provide more security to churches.
Nasir Saeed, Director of CLAAS-UK, said the attacks were “a reflection of the Government's failure” to protect non-Muslims and bring to justice those who carried out previous attacks.
He added: "I believe these attacks are sustained attempts to force Christians out of Pakistan."
Photos: CNS/EPA
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