The government followed through on their proclamation they would find the people responsible for the mob murder of two Christians on false charges of blasphemy.

However, the local officials tried to deny that Muslims were behind the attack.

“We have arrested 44 people, it was a local issue incited by the mullah of a local mosque,” said Jawad Qamar, a regional police chief from Kot Radha Kishan, Punjab province, according to The Guardian. “No particular sectarian group or religious outfit was behind the attack.”

A Muslim mob attacked Shahzad Masih, 28, and Shama Bibi, 25, because someone found a burned Koran and claimed the Christian couple had burned it in a brick kiln before throwing it away.

The mob then beat the couple and threw them alive into the brick kiln to cremate the bodies.

“The Pakistani state has to act proactively to protect its minorities from violence and injustice,” Pakistan Prime Minster Nawaz Sharif said.