President Asif Ali Zardari has condemned and deplored the attack and burning of a church in Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by a mob protesting against the anti-Islam film. In a message , the President said that the highly provocative anti Islam film had been roundly condemned throughout the world and particularly in Pakistan by Muslims and non Muslims alike but ransacking public and private property particularly the places of worship of other religions was itself unislamic and highly condemnable. He said that ransacking and vandalizing revered places of worship and inflicting self damage in retaliation amounted to playing into the hands of perpetrators of the crime who produced the anti- Islam film.  Describing the torching of the church as 'unfortunate and reprehensible 'the President said that it was contrary to the teachings of Islam which ordained respecting places of worship of all religions. He said that incidents like this portrayed Pakistan and Muslims negatively. The President called upon the provincial government to take all appropriate measures for protecting the places of worship of Christians and other minorities and address their grievances in this regard to avoid such incidents in future. A protesting mob in Mardan city on Friday set a Sarhadi Lutheran Church on fire and torched the attached building of the church.