SEVERAL Christian children and women were reportedly burnt to death when a Muslim mob set on fire 40 homes of Christians in Korian village in Toba Tek district of Punjab province inPakistan on July 30.

According to Pakistan Christian Post, the Faisalabad-Gojra Road has been blocked by a Muslim mob that is preventing any help to reach village Korian where homes of Christians are burning.

The trigger to the violence, it was reported, was that Christians had given shelter to a boy who was accused to have torn down pages of Koran.

On Sunday night Muslims were searching for one boy in a large gathering of a Christian wedding ceremony; they accused that the boy accused had burnt down pages of the Koran, the Pakistan newspaper reported.

Though the Christian and Muslim elders in the village defused the tension on clarification of the Christian youth that he had not burnt pages of the Quran, the mob came back on Thursday night at 9:00 pm (Pakistan time). The Muslim mob is said to have given a call to the locals from a mosque’s loudspeakers asking them to gather and teach a lesson to ‘infidel Christians.’

Police forces have left Lahore for Toba Tek after call from Christians in Gojra who are also hiding in homes on fear of attack by Muslims.

The nearby villages also made same announcements from mosque and Muslims gathered before homes of Christians in large numbers. Women and men with fear locked their doors to hide inside.

It is second incident of burning homes of Christian in Punjab province when Muslim mob on accusation of blasphemy attacked village Bahamin Wala in district Kasur on July 1, 2009.

There is widespread fear among Christians in Punjab province on safety and security of life from attacks of extremist Muslims and misuse of blasphemy laws, Pakistan Christian Postadded.

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Lawyers go unbridled, breaking rules in routine

By Rana Tanveer

LAHORE: The lawyers’ ruthless attitude towards media in the city on Thursday is not the first such instance.

Daily Times learnt that the lawyers are never brought to the book for committing numerous illegalities against the media, police or even judges. Most lawyers do not even abide with traffic rules.

A few months ago, a group of lawyers led by advocate Moazzam Iqbal Gill attacked and injured three reporters in the compound of the Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) for not writing in favour of Gill’s campaign for the LHCBA presidency. The journalists were severely injured after being hit by chairs but the police refused to register a first information report (FIR) against the lawyers, saying they had no jurisdiction to book people for incidents in the premises of the courts.

Moreover, during the lawyers’ movement for the restoration of judiciary, lawyers thrashed media teams and abused journalists.

Last year in April, lawyers beat former federal minister Dr Sher Afgan Niazi in front of the LHC. The LHCBA office-bearers called lawyers and media saying they had trapped Niazi and would teach him a lesson for supporting former president Pervez Musharraf and giving statements against their movement. Lawyers even barred the entry of journalists to the Lahore Bar Association (LBA) bar room.

A few days ago, a traffic warden was beaten by a group of lawyers for stopping a lawyer’s motorcycle for a traffic violation on The Mall. The Civil Lines Police not only refused to register an FIR against the lawyers but also returned the confiscated motorcycle without charging the lawyer the fee of the ticket.

The LBA held a series of protests against Deputy District Officer (Revenue) (DDOR) Kalsoom Haye demanding her transfer. Even the LHC chief justice issued orders to the chief secretary to transfer the DDOR in order to meet the lawyers’ demand.

Former LHC chief justice Iftikhar Hussain Chaudhry was the only official who took action against the lawyers and succeeded in stopping them from committing illegal actions in the courts.

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