On Sept. 22, two bombs exploded at All Saints Anglican Church in Peshawar, the capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. More than 80 people were killed, making it the deadliest attack ever on Pakistan’s Christians.
In the days since, protests have been staged across the country. Condemnations have poured in from inside the country and from around the world. Still, the violence continues: bombs in a car and a marketplace have killed scores more in Peshawar.
World Watch Monitor presents three reports drawn from the aftermath of the All Saints Church bombings. Click on the titles to read the stories:
A tragic homecoming
“We are in All Saints Church, everybody has died, buddy”, one of my friends in Peshawar told me, crying. I decided I had to go there myself, to see what I could do.
Anger turns into a riot
In Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, at the other end of the country from Peshawar, a Muslim man was killed, at least 17 houses set on fire and dozens of others ransacked and looted, in a majority Christian area. Around 300 Christian families fled their homes in the Michael Town area of the city.
A renewed debate over blasphemy laws
A leading politician has come out with a clear message that the laws need to be reviewed. The Council of Islamic Ideology, however, isn’t so sure.