Christians in Gojra are making low-key preparations for Easter this year. Residents of the neighbourhood, known as Christian Colony are haunted by memories of a 2009 attack by a Muslim mob in which seven members of a family were killed and dozens of houses torched.
A few days before Easter, which Christians believe marks the resurrection of Jesus Christ three days after his crucifixion, bare-foot children played cricket in the town’s dusty alleys while some men chatted on a bench under a tree.
“If we celebrate it with a fanfare, we fear somebody might get annoyed and attack us,” said Khalid Anjum, 45, the owner of a small snooker hall. The only sign of the approach of Easter was a few young men rehearsing hymns in St Mary’s Catholic Church. “Fear is there but we cannot give up our religion,” said Wilson Rafiq, the leader of the group of singers.
The Human Rights Commission said at least 100 people from minority communities were killed in 2010. The bloodiest attack was on Ahmedis, when 86 people were killed. In Gojra’s Christian Colony, the level of fear has increased since the sentencing on Monday of a Muslim to death for shooting dead two Christians who had been accused of blasphemy.
Rather then welcoming what some people might see as justice, Christians fear that if the sentence is carried out, it will only mean more trouble for them.
“Things will only get worse. If one is punished, someone else will stand up to take revenge for him,” said housewife Shahida Kashif.
“My kids still get scared whenever there’s a small disturbance. They says ‘mother, they’ve come. They’ll set fire to our houses again’. They still have fear in their hearts,” she said, referring to memories of the 2009 riot.
A mob of about 1,000 Muslims, incensed by rumours that a Christian had desecrated the Koran, rampaged through the neighbourhood, firing guns and throwing petrol bombs. Hameed Pannum Khan was shot dead and six members of his family, including two women and two children, were burnt to death when their hut was torched.
Authorities blamed militants linked to al Qaeda and the Taliban for the violence.
