Lahore, Aug. 17 The Christian community in Pakistan's Punjab Province has asked the government to provide security for an annual Christian congregation at Maryamabad, in Sheikhupura district, following threats of terror attacks from unidentified persons.

According to the Daily Times, Christians said they had received threatening phone calls from unidentified persons, who warned of attacking the congregation and "reducing it to a pile of ashes in a manner similar to the Gojra attacks".

Organisers of three-day religious conference - from September 4 to 6 - said they had informed local police about the threats, which had expressed its inability to secure such a large gathering of people due to limited resources.

The community has, therefore, appealed to the prime minister, the Punjab chief minister and the Punjab inspector general of police to take notice of the security threat and demanded the government deal with extremist threats to the community sternly. (ANI)