Lahore: It has been two years since the horrific anti-Christian riots in Jaranwala, Pakistan, yet the echoes of destruction, fear, and injustice continue to haunt the minority community. On August 16, 2023, a wave of violence, triggered by false blasphemy allegations, swept through Jaranwala, located 130 kilometers from Lahore. The attack left nearly twenty churches and over eight hundred Christian homes destroyed, rendering roughly ten thousand Christians homeless and traumatized.
Despite the passage of time, the quest for justice remains unfulfilled. Christians gathered in Jaranwala on Monday to protest the ongoing inaction by authorities and to demand accountability for the crimes committed against their community. The gathering underscored the lingering fear among Pakistan’s Christian minority and their deep distrust of the state’s ability to protect them.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly highlighted the gross imbalance in law enforcement following the riots. Amnesty International reports that of the 5,213 individuals accused in connection with the Jaranwala attacks, only 380 were ever taken into custody. A year later, 228 accused individuals were granted bail, while 77 were acquitted, raising serious concerns about systemic bias and the protection of perpetrators. “The authorities’ desire to shield those responsible has come at the cost of justice for the victims,” said Babu Ram Paudel, Deputy Regional Director for South Asia at Amnesty International.
The riots have not only devastated Jaranwala but have sent shockwaves across Pakistan’s Christian communities. Attackers targeted churches in Karachi, Sargodha, and Rawalpindi, defacing walls with Quranic verses and sharing footage of churches being torched, crosses desecrated, and Christians threatened with chants of “kill me” on social media platforms. The scale of the violence and the ongoing impunity have intensified concerns about the very survival and safety of Christians in Pakistan.
The struggle for justice took another blow on June 4, 2025, when an anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad acquitted ten individuals previously convicted of burning a church and looting Christian homes. With courts often siding with perpetrators and legal processes dragging on endlessly, Pakistan’s Christian minority continues to live under the shadow of fear, with little hope that justice will ever be served.
The Jaranwala tragedy, two years on, remains a stark reminder of the deep vulnerabilities faced by minorities in Pakistan, highlighting a systemic failure to protect citizens and uphold the rule of law. The cries of the affected communities demand global attention, urgent intervention, and unambiguous accountability for those responsible.