Banners Threatening Christians Of Jaranwala-Like Incident Go Up In Peshawar

Police take down banners that warned Peshawar Bishop Rt. Rev. Humphrey Sarfaraz Peters to change the 'miscreant' principal of St. Mary's High School

Banners Threatening Christians Of Jaranwala-Like Incident Go Up In Peshawar

Banners went up overnight in a Peshawar neighborhood, warning the local Christian community of a Jaranwala-like incident unless the principal of a popular convent high school is changed.

Police later oversaw efforts to pull down the banners posted in the Hashtnagri area.

The banners were addressed to Bishop Rt. Rev. Humphrey Sarfaraz Peters of the Peshawar Diocese and warned him to change the principal of St. Mary's High School.

The banners accused the principal of being a "notorious miscreant" and "wicked".

The banners were later taken down in the presence of local police. However, the authorities have yet to determine who was responsible for putting them up or if an organized group is responsible.

The incident has spread a wave of fear and panic among the Christian residents of the locality.

A large number of students, mostly Christians, study at St. Mary's High School on Warsak Road in Peshawar.

It is pertinent to mention here that on August 16, a violent mob of hundreds ransacked and torched various churches and attacked the residences of the Christian community after some locals alleged that several desecrated pages of the Holy Quran had been found near a house at Cinema Chowk in Jaranwala, where two Christian brothers resided.

The police have claimed that the incident was part of a conspiracy hatched by a jealous husband to harm his wife's alleged lover.

Sharing details of the police investigation into the incident, Jaranwala Superintendent of Police (SP) Bilal Silhari said a Christian man had discovered that his wife was cheating on him with a member of their community.

Moreover, on September 4, Pastor Alizer Sidhu, serving at the Presbyterian Church, survived an attempt on his life in a suspected targeted attack in Khunwana, Faisalabad. He later said that he had been stopped by an unidentified armed man who forced him to recite the Kalma and then shot him.