The small Christian community in Pakistan is struggling to come to terms with the massacre of 17 people, refusing to believe that it might have been committed by Muslim extremists. No-one has so far claimed responsibility for Sunday's attack on St Dominic's church in Bahawalpur, when unknown gunmen burst into the church and began spraying the congregation with gunfire. A guard and 16 worshippers were killed in the worst act of violence against Christians in Pakistan's history.
But police suspect the attack was carried out by hardline Islamic extremists amid rising tensions over Pakistan's support for the US-led attacks on neighbouring Afghanistan's Taliban regime.
In the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar, Christian leaders say that they have no problems with their Muslim neighbours. “Here with the Muslims, we live like brothers and sisters,” said prayer minister Joseph Lal at the St John's Cathedral in Peshawar.
He refused to believe the attack could have been carried out by Pakistanis.
Instead he maintained that external hands or anti-Pakistani elements were behind the atrocity.
After the carnage, Islamabad tightened security measures around churches and a dozen men from the paramilitary frontier constabulary, armed with weapons and truncheons, have been standing guard at the Anglican Cathedral in Peshawar.
Bureau Report