Controversial blasphemy law continues to claim victims in Pakistan
December 04, 2012: The controversial blasphemy law continues to claim victims among
Christians and Muslims in Pakistan. A Muslim mob threatened and attacked a Christian
school against false charges of blasphemy, the "Community Education Centre" in Azad
Town, near Lahore in Punjab. The school offers free education to children, mostly
Muslims who come from poor and needy families. On 1st December, the imam
of Azad Town announced from his mosque that the staff of the Christian school had
torn pages of the Quran, information he received in an anonymous phone call. Immediately
hundreds of Islamic militants gathered outside the main gate of the school and started
yelling, throwing objects at the building, then forcing an employee to hand them the
keys of the institute. A raid and pillage were avoided only thanks to the prompt intervention
of the police who dispersed the crowd. The lawyers of the team of "World Vision in
Progress" reported to the police a hostile act and an attempt to discredit the school,
according to the Muslim children’s parents, "they have never tried to teach anything
against Islam." Another case was reported to Fides Agency by the Christian lawyer
Mushtaq Gill, leader of the "Legal Evangelical Association Development" (LEAD). The
young Muslim Nadeem, 22, accused of blasphemy in recent days, had been imprisoned
by the police in Nankana Sahab in Punjab, based on allegations of another Muslim.
Against him an official complaint (First Information Report) had not yet been formalized,
while some local ulema claimed his innocence, talking about "false accusations". On
Sunday, the young man who was under police custody, died suddenly. According to the
lawyer Mushtaq Gill, who had taken his defense, the death may be the result of ill-treatment
and beatings, "Nadeem – he refers to Fides - was fine when he was arrested. The officials
said he began to vomit, they took him to the hospital where his death was ascertained.
We will ask for an autopsy."