Rimsha blasphemy case: Cleric acquitted for want of evidence

Image

Islamabad: August 19, 2013. (LEAD) A Pakistani court on Saturday acquitted prime suspect Khalid Chishti of all charges as six out of eight eyewitnesses retracted

from their statements in a blasphemy case accusing a mentally-challenged Christian teenage girl. The girl, Rimsha Masih, was arrested in August 2012 for allegedly burning pages containing Quranic verses but the case against her, which drew widespread international condemnation, was quashed, on this proof that Muslim cleric has added pages from the Holy Quran to ashes to make the case stronger against Christian girl and on the imam of a mosque, allegedly issued a decree on his mosque’s loudspeaker to burn Christians of the Mehrabadi village alive and dozens of Christian families fled from their houses to save their lives. Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five, remains in prison after being sentenced to death in November 2010 after other women claimed she made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. Sawan Masih, a 35-year-old Pakistani street sweeper, who was falsely accused of blasphemy by a close friend. He is now awaiting justice in his release. In 2011, politicians Salmaan Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated for demanding that the blasphemy law be reformed and this demand is still continue by Pakistani Christians and other minority groups. An accusation of blasphemy commonly subjects the accused, police, lawyers, and judges to harassment, threats, attacks and extra judicial killing. An accusation is sometimes the prelude to vigilantism and rioting as it happened in Gojra and Lahore. Those who are accused of blasphemy including their family members have to face many hardships and to move from one place to other for their safety of lives and this is not for years rather it is for whole life. Pakistani Christian immediately were booked in blasphemy cases without investigation and on this plea that there were much pressure on Police, but if the accused is Muslim then they have many ways to investigate and try to save them from this serious and deadly allegation. Advocate Sardar Mushtaq Gill, Director LEAD said that we were disappointed on the judgment of the court in the case of Hafiz Khalid Chishti who tempered the evidence by adding Quranic pages into ashes in the case of Rimsha Masih. This is our strong demand to Government of Pakistan to repeal all such discriminatory laws including blasphemy laws which were just promulgated to save Islamic Faith and to target Non-believers of Islamic Faith and make ensure our religious freedom and expression of thought in Pakistan according to our Christian faith and values. The teenager has now settled in Canada with her family, the Canadian government has supported them.

You May Also Like

Image

Blinded by Hatred, Broken by Injustice: Remembering Blasphemy Victim Nabeel Masih RIP 31st July 2025. Report by Juliet Chowdhry and Hannah Chowdhry

Pakistan: A Farewell to Nabeel Masih R.I.P. | 19th July 2001 – 31st July 2025 

A Statement from Juliet Chowdhry, Trustee of the B

Image

New Pope Leo XIV and his background?

Vatican City: (NPR) The election of Robert Francis Prevost, who chose the name Leo XIV, as the 267th leader of the Roman Catholic Church marks two

Image

Pope Francis funeral updates: Pope Francis laid to rest after historic funeral in front of 250,000

Vatican City: (ABC NEWS) Francis, who took his name after Saint Francis of Assisi, was known for his outreach to the poor and those in poverty and



"Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" By Nazir S Bhatti

On demand of our readers, I have decided to release E-Book version of "Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" on website of PCP which can also be viewed on website of Pakistan Christian Congress www.pakistanchristiancongress.org . You can read chapter wise by clicking tab on left handside of PDF format of E-Book.

nazirbhattipcc@aol.com , pakistanchristianpost@yahoo.com