'The fear is not going away': Christians in Pakistan afraid to return home

Member of Pakistan's Christian community, Kanwal, 18, (R) who along with her family got displaced after sectarian violence, comforts her twelve days-old baby boy named Samuel, while taking refuge in a school set up as temporary shelter, in Jaranwala town of Faisalabad, Pakistan, August 21, 2023. REUTERS/Charlotte Greenfield

JARANWALA, Pakistan (Reuters) - Eighteen-year-old Kanwal had just returned from hospital with her newborn baby, Samuel, when a vigilante mob launched a violent attack on their home in a Christian area of eastern Pakistan.

Terrified, she swept up the baby and fled barefoot with the rest of her family, narrowly escaping the mob that torched their house last week, causing the loss of their pet birds and all their belongings.