The United States administration has urged Pakistan to conduct a full investigation into Jaranwala violence where mobs vandalised multiple churches and attacked homes belonging to the Christian community following the alleged desecration of the Holy Quran.

“Violence or the threat of violence is never an acceptable form of expression,” United States Principal Deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a press briefing on Wednesday. “We urge Pakistani authorities to conduct a full investigation into these allegations and call for calm for all of those involved.”

He was responding to a query over the Jaranwala violence in a predominant area of the minority community. The violence broke out in Jaranwala, on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad, after allegations spread that Christians had desecrated the Quran, forcing families to flee their homes.

“So we are deeply concerned that churches and homes were targeted in response to reported Quran desecration in Pakistan,” Patel replied and added that the US supported peaceful freedom of expression and the right to freedom of religion and belief for everybody.

“And as we have previously said, we are always concerned of incidents of religiously motivated violence,” he said and stressed that violence was never an acceptable form of expression.