Pakistan’s Christian leaders demand security after bombings

Bishop blames violence on ‘total failure’ of state to protect minorities

Protesters took to the streets in cities across
Pakistan following the church bombings.
World Watch Monitor

Anguish and anger has erupted across Pakistan since Sunday after two suicide bombers killed dozens of people as they were leaving church services.

The bomb attacks took place at 12:15 p.m. on Sept. 22 as about 600 people were leaving worship services at All Saints Anglican Church in Peshawar, the capital of the war-ravaged Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwestern Pakistan, along the Pakistan-Afghan border.

At least 89 people, including children, were killed. One family lost six members. About 150 others were injured, about a dozen critically. The powerful explosions left bodies and blood strewn across the church grounds.

As expressions of sympathy poured in, protests broke out across the country, fuelled by grief and by accusations that the government does too little to protect religious minorities in the Muslim-majority country. One person died in the protests.

Protests continued today in Peshawar, Karachi, Islamabad, Gujrat, Sialkot, Narowal, Kasur, Toba Tek Singh, Faisalabad, Okara, Veharhi, Sahiwal, Khanewal, Multan and Quetta. In Peshawar, five further funerals have taken place, of those who had been in intensive care. 

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