ICC Note:
Christian leaders in Pakistan has expressed “disappointment” following the acquittal of 115 suspects in the arson attack on Joseph Colony, a predominantly Christian neighborhood in Lahore. In 2013, a mob of an estimated 3,000 attacked Joseph Colony to supposedly “take revenge” following a local Christian resident committing blasphemy. As a result, over 150 Christian homes were destroyed and 35 Christians were injured. With decision like this, Christian leaders claim the courts are allowing a state of impunity to be enjoyed by those committing crimes against Pakistan’s already vulnerable religious minorities. 
01/30/2017 Pakistan (Asia News) – Pakistani Christian leaders have expressed “deep disappointment” for the acquittal of the 115 suspects in the arson attack on an entire Christian neighborhood in Lahore in 2013. An anti-terrorism court acquitted all the accused of having set fire to more than 150 houses, shops, and two churches and forcing hundreds of Christians to flee.
Rojar Randhawa Operations Management at Caritas Pakistan Lahore (CPL) told Asia News, “It’s a sheer disappointment. The message is clear for us. Those who attack minorities and openly preach hate can go scot-free. Perhaps the pictures and video footages clearly showing faces was not enough evidence. Where is the national Action Plan?” The reference is to the policy to combat terrorism adopted in 2015 by the government in Islamabad following the Taliban attack on a military school in Peshawar.
CPL was among several Christian organizations which distributed food and non-food items when over 3,000 strong mob set ablaze more than 150 houses belonging to Christians in Lahore’s Joseph Colony in 2013. The attack was supposedly to “take revenge of the blasphemy” committed by a Christian, Sawan Masih, two days earlier. Residents were forced to flee and at least 35 people were injured. The mob looted, stoned, doused in acid, and then burned the Christian settlement.
Blasphemy carries a mandatory death sentence in Pakistan where there is a significant risk of mob violence in such cases. However, the courts have never convicted those who attack Christian settlements. In 2011, the Anti-Terrorism Court in Faisalabad acquitted all 70 Muslims in Gojra carnage after the continued absence of witnesses in trials as well as due to a lack of evidence. Ten Christians were killed, seven of them burned alive, while four churches were destroyed in Gojra and the nearby Korian village following a blasphemy allegation.
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