Anti–Christian violence, “an organized act of terrorism,” claim US Bishops

New Delhi – Denouncing the anti–Christian violence that recently took place in Pakistan, an apex committee of Catholic bishops in the United States has termed the incident as “an organized act of terrorism.”

An angry mob set ablaze on November 12, three churches – one Catholic, one Presbyterian and one of the Salvation Army – and attacked a convent, a Christian school, a girl's hostel and a parish house at Sangla Hills in Pakistan's central Punjab province following unsubstantiated accusations that a local Christian had desecrated the Quran.

The US bishops' International Policy Committee submitted on November 17 a memorandum to the Pakistani ambassador to America calling for urgent investigations into the incident.

In the memorandum, the Committee chairman Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, Florida said the mob attacks on the churches in Pakistan were “an organized act of terrorism.”

“The government should take affirmative steps to educate the people about tolerance and peace, remove religious biases in teaching materials, and repeal discriminatory laws,” he said.

Bishop Wenski said the all too convenient excuse of an alleged desecration of the Holy Quran by one individual, even if such occurred, which seems doubtful, could never justify such wanton acts of destruction and persecutions against innocent people.

“It is especially distressing at this time when much of the country is still reeling from the October 8th tragic earthquake and when so many in the Christian community in Pakistan, including our own Catholic Relief Services (CRS), are working with dedication to bring relief to the survivors,” the memorandum from the US bishops said.

Christians account for less than three percent of Pakistan's 150 million population.

A number of Church agencies led by the CRS are in the forefront of providing relief and rehabilitation to the thousands of victims of the October 8 earthquake that hit Pakistan and parts of India.