KASUR, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Sohail Johnson, Chief Coordinator of the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan, has vehemently condemned the torching of some 50 houses belonging to Christians by an angry Muslim mob numbering over 500 over false blasphemy accusations.

One of the Christians houses torched and ransacked by Muslims

The incident took place on Tuesday, June 30, 2009, in Bhamniwala village in the district of Kasur, the province of Punjab, Pakistan which is situated close to the Ganda Singh Border, Kasur, border between India and Pakistan.

Some 150 Christian families are living in this village and most of the Christians work as laborers in the fields of Muslim landlords.

According to details obtained by ANS a Christian man named Sardar Masih, who was driving a tractor, had been intercepted by a man called Muhammad Riaz and his Muslim friends on Monday, June 29.

When the Christian man asked why he was being intercepted, the Muslim men said that they would “teach him a lesson later.”

The Muslim men attacked the Christian man's house on the eve of June 29 and beat him severely.

A Christian boy shows petrol bombs thrown by Muslims on Christian houses

Adding fuel to the fire, Qari Latif, a local Muslim cleric on June 30 gave the incident a religious color by announcing from the local mosque that the Christians of the village had committed blasphemy and allegedly incited Muslims to avenge it.

Johnson said the Christian residents of the Bhamniwala village were gripped with fear after they heard announcements from the mosque that accused them of passing derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

He added: “The angry Muslim mob attacked Christians’ houses and destroyed them. They [the Muslims] set many houses of Christians on fire, looted their money and valuables, tortured Christian men and women of the village and fled from the scene.”

He criticized the local police for not taking action against the culprits “despite the fact that the Christian victims spoke against the attackers in presence of the police.”

Pointing to the apathy of the police towards the hapless Christians of the village, Johnson stated that the Muslims pressured police to file a criminal case against the Christians and it was registered on June 29, 2009.

ANS has learnt that the local Muslims have named eight Christians and three other unidentified Christians in the police First Information Report.

A distraught Christian girl who was mistreated by Muslims while she was taking a bath

The human rights activist told ANS that instead of providing protection to the vulnerable Christians from attack from an over 500 strong Muslim mob, the police were “rather keen on arresting the Christians named by the Muslims in a criminal case.”

Johnson condemned the false accusation against Christians of Bhamniwala and termed the Muslim attack as “ruthless” while talking to the District Police Officer.

He asked the District Police Officer and District Coordination Officer to take “appropriate action against the real culprits.”

Sohail Johnson also demanded action against Qari Latif, the Muslim cleric who had incited local Muslims to attack Christian houses.

Sohail Johnson while talking with local media

Talking to the media on Wednesday, July 1, 2009, Johnson said: “The brutal attack on poor Christian villagers of Bhamniwala has brought back the sad memories of Muslim attack on the villages of Shanti Nagar, Chiyan Wala and Sangla Hill.”

In the Sangla Hill attack, a 13-year-old Christian girl was gang-raped by five Muslims when she went outside to take out the trash. She was kidnapped at gunpoint and taken to their neighborhood. Sangla Hill is the same city where 3 churches, 3 clerical residences, a high school, and the houses of 3 Christian families were destroyed in a riot in 2005.

He flayed the police and the concerned authorities for failing to ward off this latest attack on Christians and also appealed to Christians all over the world to pray for the persecuted Church in Pakistan.

Dan Wooding, 68, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma of 45 years. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS); and US Bureau Chief for the Missionaries News Service (www.missionariesnews.tv) and Safe Worlds IPTV’s Faith, Hope and Charity channel. He was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC., and now hosts the weekly "Front Page Radio" show on KWVE in Southern California and which is also carried on the Calvary Radio Network throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on UCB UK and Calvary Chapel Radio UK. Wooding is the author of some 42 books, the latest of which is his autobiography, "From Tabloid to Truth", which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, go to www.fromtabloidtotruth.com. E-mail: danjuma1@aol.com.