ICC Note: 

A church in Lahore, Pakistan has taken steps to increase security at its compound following a shooting that occurred at the church late last week. According to reports, unidentified men on a motorbike opened fire on St. Joseph Church in Lahore in the early morning hours of Saturday. No one was injured and only minor property damage was caused. Still, churches in Pakistan have become the target of extremists and terrorists who in 2015 attacked two churches in Lahore with suicide bombers, killing over 20. Churches are not taking security into their own hands because they feel they cannot rely upon local police to protect them. 

6/10/2016 Pakistan (Catholic Herald) – Christians in Lahore are ramping up security measures following a recent shooting at a Catholic church in the Punjab capital.

Two gunmen on motorcycles opened fire on the main door of St Joseph Church, in the city’s Dhup Sarri Christian neighborhood, in the early hours of Saturday.

Nobody was hurt in the incident, which caused minor damage to the church and a nearby school.

Police have launched a manhunt for the gunmen and placed the church under 24-hour guard. They say they have yet to establish a motive for the attack.

“Perhaps the culprits meant to stoke sectarian tensions in the area. Damaging a place of worship is wicked,” Iqbal Hasan, a police officer, told Ucanews.com.

In response to the attack, local Christians said they could not rely on police to protect them and are preparing their own security measures.

Fr Asif Sardar, the parish’s assistant pastor, said measures included an improved closed-circuit television surveillance, using armed guards and installing security barriers around the church.

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