Tension erupts after church vandalised in Punjab's border district

Chandigarh: On Wednesday, unruly individuals damaged a three-story chapel and broke the statues of Jesus Christ and Mother Mary, causing unrest in a village in Punjab's Tarn Taran region near the India-Pakistan border.

The criminals burned down the pastor's car in addition to holding the security guy at gunpoint.

CCTV cameras captured images of the burning automobile and the vandalism of the statues.

The video showed someone repeatedly using a hammer to strike the idol.

At the scene of the crime, Thakkarpura village, a large group of community members organised an indefinite sit-in protest. They demanded that the accused be taken into custody and that the minority community be given security.

The incident comes a day after the Akal Takht Jathedar, head of the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, issued a statement against "forced conversions" by Christian missionaries.

"So-called Christian missionaries have been forcibly converting Sikhs through fraudulent practices. Sikhs and Hindus of Punjab are being misled and converted. This is happening right under the government's nose. Though there are provisions in the law to book for superstitious practices in the name of religion, no government is ready to act against them (missionaries) due to vote bank politics," Giani Harpreet Singh had said.

Two days earlier, a group of Nihangs and their supporters disrupted an event organised by Christian missionaries at Daduana village in Amritsar.

With inputs from IANS