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Christian Charged with ‘Blasphemy’ afterArgument
K
huram Masih, 23 wascharged with desecra-ting the Quran under
Pakistan’s controversial “blas-
phemy” laws after he had anargument over rent with hisMuslim landlord. According to his attorney, a trial
date is now scheduled for Jan. 7, with a bail hearing
set for Jan 3.
His attorney reported that police in Shahdara Town,
near Lahore, arrested Masih on Dec. 5 and charged
him under Section 295-B after his landlord, Zulqar
Ali, accused him of burning pages of the Quran inorder to prepare tea. Section 295-B makes willfuldesecration of the Quran or use of an extract ina derogatory manner punishable with life impri-sonment. “The case is yet another example of howthe blasphemy laws are misused to settle personalissues,” Community Development Initiative (CDI)
Executive Director Asif Aqeel said.
Masih told his attorneys he was falsely accused be-cause of an argument he had with Ali earlier in theday over the rent of the house in which he and hiswife, Bano, a convert from Hinduism, have been
living along with ve other families. “The charges
are completely fabricated,” Masih told attorneys.Another of Ali’s tenants, a neighbor of Masih, toldthe landlord that he had seen Masih and his wifeburning the pages of the Quran to make tea andspread the word to other area Muslims, according
to the First Information Report (FIR). Soon a crowd
of Muslims gathered near Masih’s house and star-ted shouting slogans against the Christians, andMuslim leaders made announcements from seve-
ral mosques calling for severe punishment of the
Christian couple.
Masih, a low-income laborer, appeared in court on
Dec. 24, but the judge did not show up. A trial dateis now scheduled for Jan. 7, with a bail hearing setfor Jan 3. According to Compass, Masih was visiblyshaken by the charges against him and wept as hesought protection for his wife, who is now living
with Masih’s relatives. Christian rights activist Kha-
lid Shahzad told Compass that soon after news of the alleged desecration began spreading, he andother Christian leaders started efforts to defuse re-ligious tensions threatening the lives and propertyof between 15,000 and 16,000 Christians living inthe Shahdara area.“Panic among Christians spread after announce-
ments were made from mosques, and several people
left their houses anticipating violence,” he said.“Thank God the situation normalized in a couple
of days, although we have strictly forbidden our boys
from standing in groups outside their homes or in
streets and from reacting on unconrmed reports.”
Shahzad said police were hasty in registering the
case. “They did not follow the procedure while boo-
king Masih, as no police ocer below the level of
superintendent of police can investigate blasphemy
charges,” he said. However, the ocer in charge of
the investigation said that police had seized the al-
legedly burned pages from the “scene of the crime”
and that police had proven that Masih had inten-tionally burned them.Under Pakistan’s internationally condemned blas-
phemy laws, conviction under Section 295-C for de-
rogatory comments about Muhammad is punishable
Dec 29 2011
h t t p : / / w w w . o p e n d o o r s u s a . o r g / p r a y / p r a y e r - u p d a t e s / 2 0 1 1 / D e c e m b e r / C h r i s t i a n - C h a r g e d - w i t h - B l a s p h e m y - a f t e r - A r g u m e n t
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