The controversy erupted after torn pages of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, were discovered near the Christian colony with alleged blasphemous content written on them.
Videos on social media show hundreds of people armed with batons and sticks attacking the Salvation Army Church and the Saint Paul Catholic Church, setting them ablaze, while another mob attacked private homes, torching them and breaking windows,Mohammed Naved, a Punjab provincial police inspector, said authorities were doing their best to control the mob in Jaranwala, 115 km from Lahore, the provincial capital.
The controversy erupted after torn pages of the Quran, the holy book for Muslims, were discovered near the Christian colony with alleged blasphemous content written on them. Shahid Mehmood, a resident of Jaranwala who owns a mobile shop about 50 metres from the Salvation Army Church, told Al Jazeera, “I reached my shop around 10am, and there were already hundreds of people gathered outside the church. Given the situation, I decided to close 10 minutes after opening.”