Tehsil of Faisalabad Jardanwala Tajmal Waheed, a resident of K Christian Town, and his four brothers have been living in a rented house for the past one year while their own house is in ruins.
His house was looted and burnt on August 16 last year during riots following an alleged blasphemy incident.
Waheed Municipal Committee Jardanwala I work on daily wages while his four brothers also earn a living by doing labour.
They say that after the tragedy, no financial assistance was given to them by the government due to which they could not construct and repair their house.
‘There has been great damage, our house is in ruins, the doors have been broken and looted and everything else has been burnt and destroyed. We have gone everywhere but no one listens to us,’ said Tajmal Waheed.
He said that the stunt commissioner himself came and saw our burnt house but he left saying that nothing happened to him.
Tajmal said that she and her children are still living under the shadow of fear that such an incident may not happen again.
He said that ‘somewhere something happens, our children start trembling and start crying, what will happen to us.’
St. Paul’s Parish House in Nazareth Colony of Jardanwala is also in ruins.
Shakeel Bhatti, a former minority member of Jardanwala Municipal Committee, says that on August 16, after looting the building, the protesters put the gas cylinders used in the kitchen in the TV lounge and set them on fire and blasted the entire building. I have cracks.
He said that for the past one year, Assistant Commissioner Jaranwala, for the reconstruction of this building and the arrest of the accused. The police And they are circling the Lahore High Court but no progress has been made.
“On the order of the High Court, we have received a check of 20 lakhs, but the reconstruction of this building alone is estimated at 70 to 80 lakhs, while the other damage is apart from this.”
Mumtaz, a resident of Christian Colony, is among the few victims who received a check of Rs 20 lakh from the government, but she says the money could not be used to complete the construction of her house.
Mumtaz says, ‘My husband retired three years ago and we built this house with his pension. They are now dead and I am putting together the repairs of this house again and again, but there is always the fear that those devils will come again.’
His house is right in front of St. John’s Church while the two men accused of blasphemy lived in the back street of the same church.
Mumtaz says that the police themselves came to her street and told people to leave their houses because the crowd was too big and they would not be able to stop them.
She says that if the police had made security arrangements before the protestors gathered that day, maybe our house and property could have been saved, but it didn’t happen.
Shakeel Bhatti says that in these riots, 27 churches and more than 300 houses of different communities of Jardanwala were burnt after vandalism.
He said that ‘the government has often constructed, repaired and renovated the churches, but the damage to the equipment was not fulfilled.’
He said that St. John’s Church was the worst affected but its construction and repair work was left incomplete which was completed by the Christian community itself.
He said that there was a computer lab for students in the community hall below the church, whose computers and other equipment were also burnt, but they were not given away.
He says that the government has given checks of relief money to some houses but this has not compensated the loss of the people.
He said that if the government had conducted a survey of the damage before distributing checks to the victims, the rights of any affected family would not have been lost.
He further said that ‘many victims have lost their jobs after this incident, our children are facing discrimination in educational institutions.’
Shakeel Bhatti says that due to unsafe conditions, he himself closed down his ready-made garment shop some time ago.
“My shop used to be the largest shop of ready-made children’s garments in this market where the most variety was available, but after the tragedy, when the shop had to be closed for several months, then I thought it best to keep it permanent.” should be closed.’
They claim that the police have also failed to punish the accused involved in the riots and about 99 percent of the arrested accused have been released on bail.
The situation of most of the victims belonging to the Christian community of Jaranwala is not different from the stories mentioned above.
On the other hand, the district administration says that the renovation and rehabilitation of the churches have been completed at the government’s expense and Rs 20 lakh per household has been given to the residents of the houses that were set ablaze.
According to official data, in these riots Christian brotherhood 19 churches and 86 houses were burnt.
Faisalabad Police registered 22 FIRs against 142 named and 5071 unknown accused involved in these riots (Photo: Independent Urdu).
However, the request made to Deputy Commissioner Faisalabad seven months ago under the Punjab Transparency and Right to Information (RIT) Act 2013 for obtaining verified details in this regard has not yet received any response.
An appeal submitted by the Deputy Commissioner to the Punjab Information Commission on non-provision of information was also disposed of three months ago without providing the information or giving reasons.
An RTI request submitted to the Punjab Information Commission to know the reasons regarding the provision of information or disposal of this appeal without assigning any reason has not yet been received.
The Faisalabad police registered 22 FIRs against 142 named and 5071 unknown accused involved in these riots, but even after a year has passed, none of the accused have been punished.
According to the information obtained from the Faisalabad Police under the Right to Information Act, 131 named and 249 unknown accused involved in the Jaranwala riots were arrested.
Out of them, 299 accused are in jail on judicial remand while 228 accused have been released on bail and after the identification of 163 accused, 77 have been discharged in investigation while 11 named and 4822 unknown accused are still absconding.
Apart from this, no action has been taken except issuing a show cause notice to the former SHO Police Station City Jardanwala Inspector Mansoor Sadiq, Stunt Sub-Inspector Abbas Ali and Head Constable Abdul Waheed for neglecting their duties.
According to the information received from the police, 31 complaints were received during the last one year at the Measaq Center, which was set up to redress the complaints of the Christian community of Jaranwala, which have been redressed and no complaint is pending. There is no delay.
It is worth mentioning here that Rakhi Masih, who has been named as the main suspect in this alleged incident of blasphemy, has not yet been able to return to his home despite being acquitted of the charges against him.
His uncle Kamran Bashir has said that after this incident, his house was also burnt to ashes.
Kamran Bashir said that ‘I and my family have returned to our home after living in hiding for seven months, neither the government nor any NGO has helped us. We have renovated our house with your help.’
He said that he has been unemployed for a year and only one meal is made in his house due to which the children are affected the most.
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“All the people who created this disturbance have come back acquitted, at least they should have been punished for inciting people by telling lies.” They would have realized that they should not have done what they did.’
Kamran Bashir said that despite being acquitted of false charges of blasphemy, his nephew has not been able to return to his home because the police are pressuring him not to come back here.
It is noteworthy here that the representatives of mainstream political parties Muslim League-N, PTI and PPP did not show much interest in the rehabilitation of the victims after the Jaranwala tragedy.
However, representatives of Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam have done significant work to help and rehabilitate the victims, which is also recognized by the Christian community.
The Punjab government’s interest in rehabilitating the victims of the Jardanwala tragedy and punishing the accused can be gauged from the fact that Punjab Provincial Minister for Minority Affairs Ramesh Singh Arora mentioned this on the occasion of his visit to Faisalabad on August 15. No mention was made.
Independent Urdu contacted Ramesh Singh Arora to find out about the government’s actions regarding the Jardanwala tragedy, but he gave the excuse of being busy with an event and did not respond to subsequent calls and WhatsApp messages.
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2024-08-17 21:52:42