Dr. Robin Sardar, 55, spent six months in the Gujranwala Central Jail because a Muslim man accused him of violating Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy laws that recommend life in prison or the death sentence for those who insult the Koran and Prophet Muhammad. “Muslim extremists demanded that he be publicly hanged, which created fear among other Christians in the area and forced Sardar’s family to live in hiding,” said rights group International Christian Concern (ICC), which closely monitored the case.
Sardar was arrested in a village of Hafizabad district on May 5 after Muslim man Muhammad Bashir, a former employee at Dr. Sardar’s clinic, allegedly fabricated the blasphemy accusations. Sardar fired Bashir a few years ago saying he spending too much time provoking religious discussions at work. The plaintiff in the case is a friend of Bashir’s named Muhammad Rafique who had not even met Dr. Sardar, ICC said.
“The blasphemy laws have been abused by many Muslims in Pakistan since they were adopted in the 1980s. Since then no one had been executed by the court, but at least 25 people have been killed by extremists, some even in police custody,” added the rights group, with Website www.persecution.org
DOCTOR HIDING
Although a judge in Hafizabad acquitted him on November 4, Sardar “went immediately into hiding for fear of religious extremists,” ICC said. However another Christian and his adult daughter remained incarcerated Thursday, November 13, after more than a month on charges of desecrating the Quran.
As happened to Sardar, violent Muslim mobs reportedly attacked the home of Gulsher Masih after his daughter was accused of desecrating the Quran on October 9 in the village of Tehsil Chak Jhumra. Both he and his daughter, 25-year-old Sandal Gulsher, have been detained in Faisalabad since October 10, Christians said. The rest of the family has reportedly gone into hiding.
POLITICAL SUPPORT
There has been political support for them and other Christians prosecuted for blasphemy.
Last week Christians in Budha Gorraya, a village near the industrial city of Gujranwala in Punjab province, celebrated the appointment of Christian legislator Shahbaz Bhatti as the new Minister for Minorities who has pledged to fight against the blasphemy laws. He said his organization, All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) would use “every available resource to ensure that every Pakistani Christian is treated equally.”
Bhatti said a resolution would be tabled soon in the Pakistani parliament to “obliterate the black Blasphemy Laws of the country” or demand the re-definition of the word ‘Blasphemy” He added that the present definition of ‘Blasphemy’ is “vague and open-ended, hence radical elements of our Muslim brethren make wrong use of these black laws to settle their personal enmities.”
CHRISTIAN RIGHTS
The leader of Christian rights group ‘Rays of Development Organization’ (ROD), Ferhan Mazhar, said he would support Bhatti to eradicate “all discriminatory customs and laws in Pakistani politics and civil society.”
He described the appointment of Bhatti as “a historic moment for Pakistani minorities and a great milestone in the struggle for the achievement of equal rights for minorities.”
Christians comprise less than five percent of Pakistan’s 173 million, mainly Muslim people.
