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Three Christians of a family accused of blasphemy in Pakistan
2000 Muslim mob blocked road over “sacrilege” of Quranic verses.
In yet another incident of abuse of Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws at the hands of extremist Muslims three Christians of the same family have been accused of blasphemy in Lahore on July 5, 2010.
A blasphemy case has been registered in the Police Station Factory area Lahore against three Christians of the same family named Yousaf Masih, Bashiran bibi and Zahid Masih on July 5, 2010 under section 295-B of Pakistan Penal Code.
295-B reads: “Whoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Koran or of an extract therefrom or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable with imprisonment for life."
CLAAS fact-finding team discovered that Yousaf Masih was living in abject poverty in a rented house with his wife Bashiran bibi and daughter Nida Yousaf near Model Town area of Lahore.
The landlord had stopped receiving rent from Masih after learning about his financial circumstances. Masih’s tiny house had a bathroom without a roof.
Lal Masih, a cousin of Yousaf Masih, who would visit him once a week brought a hard plastic sheet last week to cover the bathroom.
Amanat Ali, a local Muslim resident told CLAAS that the plastic sheet that Lal Masih gave to his cousin to cover his bathroom had some Quranic verses inscribed on it.
CLAAS Pakistan caseworkers quoted Amanat Ali as saying that Lal Masih did not remove the controversial sheet covering Yousaf Masih’s bathroom in spite of local Muslims’ reservations on it.
As the contentious issue between Lal Masih and local Muslims stood unresolved a heated verbal altercation over the disputed sheet took place between Lal Masih and Muhammad Imran, Masih’s Muslim neighbour on July 4, 2010.
Muhammad Imran told CLAAS workers that Lal Masih did not remove the controversial plastic sheet from his bathroom’s roof even after the dispute.
“I asked Lal Masih several times to remove the sheet because holy words were inscribed on it but Masih did not heed my advice.
“He refused to remove the sheet even after the dispute” Muhammad Imran told CLAAS team.
Enraged over this Imran shared this matter with two other local Muslims named Muhammad Saif and Muhammad Ali, who went to Yousaf Masih’s house but nobody, was present in the house therefore they asked Zahid Masih, a Christian man who lived opposite to Yousaf Masih to remove the controversial sheet.
Zahid thought it inappropriate to remove the sheet in the absence of Yousaf Masih’s family.
The two Muslim men flew off the handle after they failed to wrest Zahid Masih’s consent on removing the contentious sheet and the two sides traded harsh words.
The explosive arguments between Masih and the Muslim men drew local Muslims to the scene of incident who accused Zahid of sacrilege of Quranic verses.
Amanat Ali told CLAAS that he removed the disputed plastic sheet from Yousaf Masih’s bathroom when he saw enraged Muslim mob marching towards Yousaf Masih’s house.
Ali told CLAAS that about two thousand angry Muslims arrived at the scene and blocked the road.
Ali told CLAAS workers that the mob refused to unblock the road until a blasphemy case was registered against Zahid Masih, Yousaf Masih and Bashiran bibi.
The accused manage to flee, fearing more trouble. The police have instead arrested Lal Masih and James Masih, relatives of the three people accused of blasphemy to coerce them into turning them in to the police.
CLAAS caseworkers tried talking to the Christian residents of the area but they preferred to maintain silence for the fear of trouble from extremist Muslims.
CLAAS workers did not find any Quranic inscribed on the divisive plastic sheet.
CLAAS Pakistan team led by Mr. Joseph Francis, National Director CLAAS Pakistan met the police investigation officer and urged him to play his role to bring about reconciliation between the accused and the local Muslims.
The investigation officer assured Mr. Francis his cooperation to broker reconciliation between the two sides but stressed that Zahid Masih, Yousaf Masih and Bashiran bibi would have to turn them in to the police.
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