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O R 101059Z AUG 09
FM AMCONSUL LAHORE
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4144
INFO CIA WASHDC
AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 
AMEMBASSY KABUL 
AMCONSUL KARACHI 
AMEMBASSY LONDON 
AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 
NSC WASHINGTON DC
AMCONSUL PESHAWAR 
SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL
AMCONSUL LAHORE

C O N F I D E N T I A L LAHORE 000165 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL:  8/7/2019 
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PTER PK
SUBJECT: PROSECUTIONS AND PEACE PROMISED IN STRIFE-TORN VILLAGE 
 
REF: A. LAHORE 158 
     ¶B. LAHORE 162 
 
CLASSIFIED BY: Matthew Lowe, Acting Principal Officer, Consulate 
Lahore, U.S. Department of State. 
REASON: 1.4 (b), (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: While politicians and religious leaders have 
sought to establish inter-religious peace in Gojra village after 
the August 1 burning of eight Christians, human rights activists 
have urged the government to reconsider the blasphemy law, which 
sparked the killing of a Muslim businessman in Sheikhupura 
August 4.  In an August 6 meeting with A/PO, members of the 
Human Rights Commission of Pakistan warned that the government 
must punish the perpetrators, and suggested modifying the 
blasphemy law that allows such incidents to occur.  Maulana 
Abdul Khabeer Azad, the imam of Lahore's Badshahi Mosque, 
related that he spent the week in Gojra encouraging interfaith 
reconciliation.  He underscored that extremist Brelvi group 
Sunni Tehreek first sparked the riot, though an Ahl-e-Hadith 
mosque encouraged the violence.  End Summary. 
 
- - - 
Politicians Promise Compensation 
- - - 
 
¶2. (SBU) The August 1 riot and burning of eight Christians in 
Gojra village in Toba Tek Singh district in central Punjab 
prompted visits by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Governor 
Salman Taseer and Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani during week of 
August 3.  Shahbaz and Taseer pledged assistance during separate 
August 4 trips to the village.  Shahbaz promised to rebuild the 
approximately 100 houses, and announced a judicial inquiry led 
by a Lahore High Court tribunal.  During his visit, the Governor 
noted that quick action by the provincial administration would 
have prevented the deaths.  "The white stripe in our national 
flag clearly admits the presence of minorities and PPP will 
continue its struggle for their fundamental rights," he 
reiterated.  Prime Minister Yusuf Gilani arrived August 6 and 
pledged 100 million rupees compensation. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Pakistan Muslim League (PML) President Chaudhry 
Shujaat Hussain visited the Christian settlement August 9.  He 
denied that any desecration took place, and backed PML Member of 
the National Assembly (MNA) Akram Maseeh's call to revise the 
blasphemy law.  Shujaat Hussain also suggested providing two 
more seats in the Senate to minorities. 
 
- - - 
Maulana Promotes Interfaith Harmony 
- - - 
 
¶4. (C) Maulana Abdul Khabeer Azad, the imam of Lahore's 
prominent Badshahi Mosque, told Acting Principal Officer August 
7 that he spent four days and nights in Gojra to reconcile the 
Christian and Muslim communities.  During his conversations with 
Islamic scholars, bishops and "the masses," Maulana Azad 
related, he stressed that Islam respects other faiths and views 
the state as the exclusive arbitrator of disputes.  He 
encouraged the local community to donate blood for the injured 
and food and water to the Christian community, he recounted. 
 
¶5. (C) Maulana Azad detailed that Sunni Tehreek, an extremist 
Brelvi organization, triggered the first arson incident that 
burned about 40 houses in nearby Khorian town.  He cautioned 
that he has refrained from accusing Sunni Tehreek publicly 
because his Deobandi affiliation might trigger tension between 
the two sects.  He clarified that the August 1 mob emerged from 
an Ahl-e-Hadith mosque, but the masked, armed arsonists seem to 
have appeared separately.  "We presume they came out of local 
houses," he surmised. 
 
¶6. (C) Maulana Azad acknowledged that abuse of the blasphemy law 
has occurred, but warned that withdrawing the law would produce 
an increase in blasphemy incidents.  But he admitted that the 
law has a low threshold for evidence, as illustrated in an 
August 5 incident in which workers in Muridke in Sheikhupura 
district killed their Muslim employer during a pay dispute and 
then told police that he had desecrated the Koran.  Maulana Azad 
recounted that former President Musharraf had sought to 
discourage the registration of false cases by requiring senior 
police officers to file First Information Reports (FIRs) that 
invoke Article 295.  Meanwhile, Maulana Azad briefed, he planned 
to return to Gojra August 10 to distribute food and essential 
items, and hold "peace conferences" over the following week. 
 
- - - 
HRCP Decries Lack of Law Enforcement and Blasphemy Law 
- - - 
 
¶7. (SBU) Mehboob Ahmed Khan of the Human Rights Commission of 
Pakistan (HRCP) told A/PO August 6 that a July 30 gathering 
featured speakers, including Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz 
(PML-N) and Tehreek Insaaf politicians, who called for a mob to 
gather August 1 to demand the arrest of Talib Singh, the 
Christian accused of blasphemy.  Despite the announcement on 
July 30, he lamented, the police refused to prevent the crowd 
from gathering or marching the next day.  The August 1 attack, 
Khan detailed, appeared professional.  "They  burned 40 houses 
in 30 minutes -- how did they do that?" 
 
¶8. (SBU) Khan called for the effective prosecution of the 
perpetrators, and noted that banned organizations such as 
Lashkare-e-Jhangvi and Sipah-e-Sahaba had arrived in the village 
to provoke unrest.  "All of these organizations are banned, but 
none of them are taken to task," he complained.  He believed 
that the community had existed in harmony before "outside 
factors disturbed the scene." 
 
¶9. (SBU) Khan and his HRCP colleagues underlined that the 
blasphemy law creates a framework that allows such incidents to 
occur.  "Every incident is proof that it is easy to use this law 
for revenge," he observed.  He urged that the government repeal 
the law, but suggested that the Interior Minister direct police 
to register FIRs on religious grounds only after conducting an 
inquiry.  He highlighted that the number of blasphemy cases and 
the violence associated with such cases has increased in 2009. 
 
¶10. (SBU) In an August 9 press conference, HRCP Chairperson Asma 
Jehangir declared that the Christians in Gojra still felt 
threatened by militant groups.  Speaking as part of the Joint 
Action Committee for Peoples Rights (JAC), she demanded that the 
government dismantle extremist groups and take action against 
those who use blasphemy allegations to incite violence.  The JAC 
also called for an early warning mechanism to prevent sectarian 
conflicts and monitoring of mosque loudspeakers. 
 
- - - 
Comment: Nerves Calm, but Tension Remains 
- - - 
 
¶11. (C) While politicians and religious leaders have rushed to 
Gojra, they have done little to correct the legal and societal 
foundation that allowed such a horrific incident to take place. 
As long as the blasphemy law remains on the books, police must 
recognize how to prevent belief-based incidents from spiraling 
out of control.  Raising the proof required and requiring an 
inquiry before the FIR will prevent false allegations from 
becoming official charges.  The government must also punish the 
politicians and leaders who riled the mob in Gojra, and 
demonstrate that exploiting interfaith tension is a criminal 
offense.  But the tension itself must also ease, and the 
dialogue and exchange led by Maulana Azad comprises one element 
that will help prevent faith-based riots from recurring. 
 
 
LOWE