Breitbart
A mob reportedly made of up as many as 10,000 men began burning down, looting, and otherwise violently assaulting Christian communities in Jaranwala, Pakistan, on Wednesday in response to reports that a Christian man had allegedly desecrated a Quran.
The Pakistani newspaper Dawn, citing local Christians in the northern Pakistani region of Punjab, documented the burning down or otherwise complete destruction of at least five churches. The British Asian Christian Association, an international aid group that serves persecuted Christians in Pakistan, reported that the mob destroyed over 500 homes and left “tens of thousands” of Christians homeless.
Muslim mob violence in Pakistan, an officially Islamic state, is common. Islamist mobs often riot when rumors spread of a Christian allegedly desecrating a Quran, insulting the Islamic figure Muhammad, or otherwise offending the religion. Islamists have also rioted over international news, such as riots in support of the Charlie Hebdo massacre of 2015 or riots against France following the beheading of teacher Samuel Paty, which the French government condemned.
Christians are often the targets of such violence and local police rarely intervene effectively, particularly when the mob attacks are triggered by allegations of blasphemy. “Blasphemy” is a crime in the Pakistani penal code, punishable by death when directed at Muhammad personally. Pakistan has never in its history executed a person for blasphemy, but mobs have “extra-judicially” killed or severely injured untold numbers over the alleged crime.
Many of those killed for “blasphemy” are not charged with the crime and little evidence exists that the blasphemy occurred. Christians in Pakistan are disproportionately poor, and some accused of “crimes” such as writing on a Quran are illiterate, making the accusations impossible.