Muslim backlash, after police jailed a Christian man on charges of "blasphemy against the Koran" and Islam, BosNewsLife monitored Tuesday, September 13.
The Pakistani Daily Times newspaper said "nearly 50 families" already fled Waheed Park in Lahore’s Amar Sadhu area where the accused Christian man, Younis Masih, allegedly made "derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad" during a worship service based on mystical Sufi singing in a nearby Christian’s home. Other reports said 100 families already fled while Christian homes in the area were destroyed and looted.
It was not clear if and when the Christians intended to return to their area in Lahore, a city
which already saw several violent attacks, some of them deadly, against Christian believers, BosNewsLife established.
The 40-year old Masih was arrested and detained Saturday, September 10, as hundreds of Muslim protestors carrying sticks surrounded the police station, news reports said. His first court hearing was expected later this week.
Another man, identified as Nazir Ahmad, was also taken into police custody Saturday, September 10 in Mianwali Bangla village of Pakistan’s Daksa region on charges of publicly desecrating the Koran, the Daily Times said. He allegedly claimed to be Hazrat Imam Mehdi, also known as ‘a messenger of Allah’. There was no immediate independent confirmation of that report.
HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS
In published reactions Tuesday, September 13, the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) and the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) said the developments show the need to annul the country’s controversial blasphemy legislation.
APMA Chairman Shahbaz Bhatti alleged that Younis Masih’s case was based on "religious misunderstandings" and urged the government to form a judicial commission to look into the matter.
"When a case against Younis Masih was registered, a mob beat up Younis and allegedly ripped off his wife’s cloths who had come to save him," Bhatti reportedly said.
The APMA has argued that religious minorities were victims of the legislation and that many of them were being murdered. "Blasphemy is a vague term and this law is being used for settling personal scores and religious enmities," the Daily Times quoted the APMA Chairman as saying.
MINORITIES "PUNISHED"
"Since its introduction in 1986, this piece of legislation has frequently been misused to intimidate or punish religious minorities," he said.
This is not an isolated case. Last month another Christian, 60-year old Yousaf Masih, was released on bail after being detained on June 28, in Nowshera, North-West Frontier Province, on grounds that he desecrated the Koran by allegedly burning pages with Koranic verses written on them.
In addition several Christian areas of Pakistan were reportedly attacked and hundreds of homes were destroyed by Islamic militants around the city of Peshawar, about 172 km (107 miles) west of the capital Islamabad, where the incident allegedly took place, human rights groups said.
The Voice Of the Martyrs (VOM) USA, a Christian human rights watchdog, had argued that the arrest of Masih was strange as he can not read. The "burning incident," it said, only happened when the man, who worked as a sweeper for the Pakistani military, came across a bag of "rough papers" at the major’s home and was asked to destroy them.
SETBACK FOR GROUP
News of the arrests came as a setback for advocacy group Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) which last week announced its delegates met the Pakistani prime minister in Islamabad to urge him to "repeal the discriminatory blasphemy laws and Hudood Ordinances which have been widely abused."
The Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, did not make promises to change the legislation, but was quoted as saying that in general, "the single most important thing we can do today is to promote inter-faith harmony."
Under Pakistan’s blasphemy rules "offending Islam" carries a mandatory life sentence. The APMA has in the past expressed concern that "any [Muslim] criminal in the jail may take an opportunity to kill" an accused Christian "with the intention to inherit paradise and be forgiven."
Christians comprise less than 3 percent of Pakistan’s 160-million strong, mainly Muslim, population, according to official figures. (With BosNewsLife News Center, BosNewsLife Research and reports from Pakistan).
