Police in Pakistan have arrested a Muslim who broke into a church building and desecrated a cross and Bible after an altercation with a Christian, the church’s pastor and police said.
Pastor Tariq Masih of the Feroz Din Tak Memorial Church in Ghanekhi village, Kot Radha Kishan, Kasur district, Punjab, said the vandalism happened in the early hours of Monday (January 5) and was discovered when the church was opened for morning prayers.
“The accused, later identified as Allah Rakha, a rickshaw driver from the same village, broke the window and entered the church,” Pastor Masih told Christian Daily International Morning Star News. “He vandalized the church grounds, desecrated the Bible, damaged the sound system and altar furniture, and bent a cross that had been placed inside the building.”
Police responded quickly and were able to find the suspect in just six hours, he said.
Kasur district police officer Muhammad Isa Khan said the arrested suspect had confessed.
“Further investigation is underway and strict legal action will be taken,” Khan said, adding that police acted quickly to prevent unrest and reassure local Christians.
Kot Radha Kishan police registered a first information report under Sections 295 and 295-A of the Blasphemy Act, which criminalizes the act of insulting religious beliefs or intentionally insulting the religious sentiments of any community. If found guilty under these provisions, you may be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, a fine, or both.
The pastor emphasized that there has been no religious violence in the village and that Christians and Muslims have lived peacefully together for a long time. That message was reinforced as Muslim residents and worshipers from nearby mosques visited the church after dawn prayers to express sympathy and condemn the attack. Masih said local Muslim clerics also publicly criticized the act, calling it unacceptable.
The church serves as the only place of worship for about 200 families belonging to the Pakistan Anglican Diocese of Lahore in the Muslim-majority village, he added.
State lawmaker Ejaz Alam Augustin, who is Christian, said the attack did not appear to be motivated by organized religious hatred.
“This act was motivated by a personal dispute,” Augustin told Christian Daily International Morningstar News. “The suspect had previously been involved in an altercation with local Christian youths, and then allegedly targeted a church in retaliation while under the influence of alcohol.”
Augustin, who visited the village to monitor the police investigation, said the desecration of Bibles, crosses and other religious items deeply hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian community, but that the police’s quick response helped build community trust in law enforcement.
Attacks by Muslim mobs over false blasphemy allegations destroyed churches and Christian homes in Jaranwala in 2023 and Sargodha in 2024, both in Punjab. In both incidents, law enforcement personnel were accused of standing by as mobs ransacked Christian property and church buildings.
More than 300 suspects were arrested in connection with the Jaranwala violence and more than 50 Muslims were detained after the Sargodha incident, but almost all of them are out on bail or acquitted.
“The role played by local police is commendable. This is due to the current government’s tough policies against religious hatred and extremism,” Augustin said. “But the deeper challenge is to change the mindset that allows religious hatred to surface again and again.”
Pakistan, where more than 96 percent of the population is Muslim, was ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List as the country in which it is most difficult to be a Christian.
