Christians in Pakistan are living in fear of more violent attacks a year after a wave of severe anti-Christian persecution.

Friday marked the one-year anniversary of violence against Christians in Jaranwala when 25 churches and at least 85 were ransacked by a thousands-strong mob. 

Churches wanted to mark the anniversary by holding services, but Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) says they were warned against doing so by the authorities. 

Father Yaqub Yousif, the parish priest of Jaranwala, said that Christians in the area feel "scared".

"People are disturbed by the lack of justice," he said.

"They feel very insecure. If the institutions responsible for providing justice cannot help what can the people do as weak minorities?"

Despite the scale of the devastation committed on 16 August 2023, Christians are upset that no one has been held accountable and some feel tempted to take matters into their own hands. 

Bishop Indrias Rehmat of Faisalabad said: "People are frightened and feeling hopeless because so far justice has not been given to them.

"Some people are angry and want to agitate.

"They demand that we act for justice but what can we do? Justice can only be given by the government. The culprits are mostly out on bail and this is upsetting the community."

While 305 were arrested over the atrocities, the Catholic Church's National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) says that only five remain behind bars.

Only one person was sentenced in connection with the violence and that was a Christian man, Ehsan Shan. He was sentenced to life for blasphemy after being found guilty of sharing a blasphemous image on social media that sparked the rampage. 

Father Yousif expressed scepticism about Shan's conviction: "I would like to make it clear that Christians never have any thought of showing disrespect either to the Quran or the prophet and would see absolutely no value in acts of desecration."

Christians who initially tried to have charges pressed against perpetrators of the violence have been intimidated into dropping their claims, ACN reports. 

Father Boniface 'Bonnie' Mendes, a senior priest of Faisalabad diocese, shares the sense of grief about the lack of justice a year on. Visiting the UK offices of ACN recently, he said that Christians feel increasingly like they want to leave the country and that the Pakistani government has to share some of the blame.

"Justice has not been served in the last 12 months. The right people should have been sentenced but this has not happened," he said. 

"The government has been so weak. It is afraid to act. We feel more and more that the government is helpless. It means the Christian community tends to be more and more inward-looking and want to leave the country."

NCJP executive director Naeem Youssif Gill outlined some practical measures that could be taken to protect Christians.

"Justice should be implemented with a spirit of justice, equality and based on the law," he said. 

"Steps such as stopping provocation through loudspeakers, banning extremist outfits and seizing the hate-mongering literature must be intensified and evaluated, and their success must be ensured."