Muslims help Christians in Pakistan to build church

Islamabad, June 17 In a significant display of communal harmony, Muslims in Pakistan's Punjab province are helping their fellow Christian in raising funds to build a church that was allegedly damaged by a mob.

In 2009, Gojra city in near Faisalabad became a fiery furnace after nine people including a bridegroom and bride were shot dead during a wedding ceremony. Some 200 homes and three churches were razed to the ground by a mob that attacked the minority community after local mosques called for retaliation to an alleged blasphemy.

The local police, however, had discredited the allegation that torn shreds of the Quran had been used as confetti at a wedding.

"I pray that we complete this church. We have had to use different homes for services but our congregation has grown beyond the capacity of such places," a release from British Pakistani Christian Association quoted a resident, Khalid Aftab, as saying.

IANS