President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday condemned and deplored the attack and the subsequent burning of a church in Mardan by a mob during Friday’s protests. The president in a message said the highly provocative anti-Islam film had been condemned throughout the world and particularly in Pakistan by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. However, the ransacking of public and private property, particularly the places of worship of other religions was itself an un-Islamic and highly condemnable act, he added. He said ransacking and vandalizing the revered places of worship and inflicting damage to the lives and properties in retaliation amounted to playing into the hands of the perpetrators of the crime who produced the anti-Islam film for the same reason. Describing the torching of the church as ‘unfortunate and reprehensible ‘ the president said that it was contrary to the teachings of Islam which held the places of all religions in high regard. He said that incidents like these portrayed Pakistan and Muslims negatively in the eyes of the international community. The President called upon the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government to take all appropriate measures for protecting the places of worship of Christians and other minorities and to address their grievances and take measures to avoid such incidents in the future. A protesting mob in Mardan city on Friday set a Sarhadi Lutheran Church on fire and also torched the building adjacent to the church.
Probe committee: Meanwhile, Interior Minister Rehman Malik formed a committee headed by the KP inspector general of police to probe the attack on the church.
