More blasphemy madness in Pakistan, more innocent people victimized, as the world wrings its hands over “Islamophobia.”
“No end in sight to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws,” by Shamil Shams for DW, November 2 (thanks to Kenneth):
Pakistani activists say they have lost hope in the government to reform the Islamic country’s controversial laws in the wake of an attack on a girls’ school over alleged blasphemy.
A mob of more than 200 people set fire to a girls’ school in the Pakistani city of Lahore on Wednesday on accusations that one of the teachers of the school distributed “blasphemous” material to her sixth grade students.
Pakistani police are trying to trace the teacher of the Farooqi High School who has apparently gone into hiding.
Police officer Azam Manhais told the media that the 76-year-old Asim Farooqi, owner of the school, had been arrested on blasphemy charges.
At least one person was injured during the clash between the protesters and the police around the school. Pakistani authorities say they have filed a police report against “unknown assailants” for attacking the school.
According to the local media, the protesters mostly belonged to religious parties and Islamist groups, including the outlawed Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The Pakistani police, however, did not confirm this.
According to the initial reports, Arfa Iftikhar, one of the teachers of the girls’ school, had given an assignment to her sixth grade students about an essay on the Koran – the holy book of Islam – which allegedly carried derogatory remarks about the religion’s prophet.
“Our school management and the owners have no link whatsoever with this dirty act,” said an advertisementin [sic] Urdu, which the school management took out in two leading newspapers on Friday. “We appeal to the government and the police to take legal action against this teacher and investigate her real motive.”…