US calls Pakistan’s blasphemy arrest ‘disturbing’

(Aug. 21, 2012) A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department on Monday called the arrest of a young Pakistani girl in Islamabad on charges of blasphemy “deeply disturbing,” and urged the government to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation. In her daily press briefing on Monday, spokesperson Victoria Nuland welcomed reports that President Ali Asif Zardari had directed the Interior Ministry to review the arrest of the young girl, identified by local media as Rimsha Masih, whose age has been given as between 10 and 16 years in various media reports. “We think that the president’s statement is very welcome, and we urge the government of Pakistan to protect not just its religious minority citizens, but also women and girls.” Nuland further noted that “what is being touted as an abuse, or an intentional act for religious purposes may, in fact, have been something else.” Masih was arrested on Friday in a Christian enclave in Islamabad on suspicion of blasphemy, which can be punishable by death. A report by the New York Times said a local cleric had accused Masih, who Pakistan media have said suffers from Down’s Syndrome, of possessing burned pages of a religious textbook used to teach the Koran to children. Masih is reportedly being held at Adiyala jail in Rawalpindi.