Pakistan court hands rare prison sentence over anti-Christian riots

Christians in Pakistan have welcomed the conviction of a Muslim man for his role in the 2023 anti-Christian riots in Jaranwala, Punjab, calling it a rare instance of accountability in cases of mob violence against religious minorities.

An anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad on July 13 sentenced Irfan Yousaf, a crane driver, to 10 years in prison for attacking the town’s Christian neighborhood after allegations of Quran desecration. He was among thousands of Muslims accused of participating in the riots that left 26 churches and more than 80 Christian homes vandalized.

News of the verdict was greeted with applause during a July 13 consultation jointly organized by the National Council of Churches in Pakistan (NCCP), the country’s main ecumenical body representing Protestant churches, and the nongovernmental Implementation Minority Rights Forum (IMRF).

Samuel Pyara, chairman of IMRF, who has filed petitions in the Supreme Court and regularly meets federal officials to press for speedy trials and compensation for victims, said the conviction was secured through digital forensic evidence.

“It followed forensic analysis of a video recorded by Wahida Mukhtar, a local Christian woman, showing Yousaf demolishing a church and an adjacent house with a crane. Government-certified experts authenticated the footage and testified before the court,” Pyara, the lead petitioner in the Supreme Courtʼs “suo motu” proceedings, told EWTN News.

Pyara said Christian witnesses faced sustained intimidation during the trial.

“One complainant, a brick kiln worker, was suddenly pressured by his employer to repay outstanding loans. A farmer’s ready-to-harvest radish crop was poisoned. Others were denied agricultural land by Muslim landlords, young Christians lost their jobs, and an internet cable provider saw his business collapse,” he said.

Participants at the consultation also gave a standing ovation to Mukhtar, 30, whose cellphone footage became crucial evidence.

Mukhtar said she fractured a bone in her left foot after being struck by a brick thrown by a rioter while filming the attacks with her family. The following month, her contract as an assistant subdistrict sports officer was not renewed, and she was forced to sell the equipment from her gym after Muslim members stopped using the facility.

“Christian witnesses who identified members of the mob, helped secure their arrests, and testified in court were pressured to sign compromise agreements. Fear could not deter us. This conviction is the result of our sacrifice,” she said.

A church official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the verdict as deeply symbolic.

“The crane was the election symbol of the now-banned Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan TLP, whose supporters were widely accused of leading the violence. Convicting the crane driver carries symbolic significance for many Christians,” he said.

TLP, a hard-line Islamist party, has built much of its support around defending Pakistan’s blasphemy laws and organizing mass protests over alleged blasphemy.

Human rights groups and Christian leaders have repeatedly accused the party’s supporters of fueling hostility toward religious minorities through inflammatory rhetoric, although the party has denied involvement in acts of mob violence.

Despite welcoming the conviction, Christian leaders said it should not obscure the broader failure to secure justice.

In a July 14 statement, the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) said that, since 2009, those accused of carrying out major mob attacks on Christians and Christian settlements have ultimately been acquitted.

The statement was issued jointly by Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan and NCJP chairman; NCJP National Director Father Bernard Emmanuel; and NCJP Executive Director Naeem Yousaf Gill.

Sharon Shamir, a Lahore-based human rights advocate, cautioned against viewing the conviction as full justice.

“Calling this ‘justice served’ is premature. One conviction in a tragedy as massive as Jaranwala barely scratches the surface,” she said.

“Dozens of lives were shattered, homes and churches were destroyed, and an entire community was traumatized. Where are the rest of the perpetrators? Who is being held accountable for the systemic failures that allowed such violence to unfold? Selective accountability risks turning justice into symbolism rather than substance.”

She added that justice “is not a headline or a moment but a process. Until that process is complete, calling it ‘served’ is misleading.”

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