What if this unfortunate child really had burnt a Qur’an, or used a page from it as wrapping paper? How would that have harmed the Muslims who called for his punishment and who may have beaten him? “Pakistan: Tension grips town over Koran burning,” from AKI, July 17 (thanks to C.C.):
Hyderabad, 17 July (AKI/DAWN) – Tension gripped a small town in Pakistan, after rumours that a Hindu child had burnt a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.
The incident took place in a remote mountainous area between Hyderabad and Karachi.
Following the incident, people reportedly gathered in the town of Thano Ahmed Khan to pressure police to take action against the child.
Later it was revealed that the child, who works in a grocery store, had mistakenly given a buyer some goods wrapped in a page from a textbook which had a Koranic verse on it.
According to reports, the child was taken to a guesthouse, stripped and beaten up. Another report, denied by police, said that the boy was paraded naked in the area.
The boy’s father, Maharaj Jaman Das, who holds an important religious position in the community, offered an unconditional apology to the protesters and said his son did not know what was written on the paper.
Police tried to verify the incident but no one in Thano Ahmed Khan could produce the paper which contained the Koranic verse.
Police in Thano Bula Khan told the Pakistani daily, Dawn, that no charges had been laid as no one had given any evidence that an act of blasphemy had occurred.