Vandals damage church in Punjab

Masked vandals struck at a church in Thakkarpura village of Punjab's Tarn Taran district, damaging its pieta depicting the Virgin Mary cradling Christ's body and setting ablaze the administrator's parked car on their way out. The desecration came a day after Akal Takht jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh asked the Punjab government to drop charges against the Nihangs who had been booked for disrupting a Christian religious function at Daduana village near Amritsar. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann directed DGP to conduct a prompt inquiry into the incident, saying “severest of severe action must be taken against the perpetrators”. Intelligence agencies said they suspected Pakistan’s ISI of having a hand in the recent incidents that have triggered acrimony between Christians and Sikhs after decades of living peacefully. Christian protesters blocked the Patti Khemkaran road. The blockade ended after the police assured them that the culprits would be brought to book.