“They also summoned the park’s security and lied to them that the two Christians were evangelizing to Muslims in the park and had used derogatory words for the Koran and the prophet [Muhammad].”
How likely is it that this happened in country where this kind of behavior can land you in prison, if you aren’t torn apart by an enraged mob?
This is yet another example of how Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are used to victim the vulnerable and powerless. But no one cares, because the perpetrators are Muslims, and in the accepted narrative, Muslims are and can only be victims.
“Two Christians Studying Bible in Park Charged with Blasphemy,” Morning Star News, February 16, 2021:
LAHORE, Pakistan (Morning Star News) – Police in Lahore, Pakistan have charged two Christians with blasphemy after Muslims objected to their Bible study in a park last weekend, the attorney for one of the accused said.
Haroon Ayub Masih, 26, and friend Salamat Mansha Masih, about the same age, were studying the Bible in Lahore’s Model Town Park on Saturday (Feb. 13) when a group of Muslims approached and told them they should not read the Bible in public, attorney Aneeqa Maria of The Voice Society said.
When Haroon Masih told them that reading the Bible in public was not a crime in Pakistan and that they had no right to stop them, the Muslims began questioning them about their Christian faith and asked if they had any reading material to help them understand the Bible, Maria said.
“On their insistence, Haroon gave them a Christian book entitled, ‘Zindagi Ka Paani’’ or ‘Water of Life,’” said Maria, who represents Haroon Masih. “The youths took the book and left Haroon and Mansha for the time being.”
Haroon Masih returned home a few minutes later, while Mansha Masih remained in the park, she said.
“A few minutes later, the Muslim youths returned to the spot where Mansha was present and attacked him, claiming that he and Haroon had blasphemed against their prophet,” Maria told Morning Star News. “They also summoned the park’s security and lied to them that the two Christians were evangelizing to Muslims in the park and had used derogatory words for the Koran and the prophet [Muhammad].”
Maria said someone from the group of Muslim friends, which was led by Haroon Ahmed, then called the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a far-right Islamist political party reportedly behind most blasphemy cases against Christians and the Ahmadiyya, a sect originating in Islam that Muslims repudiate. A TLP co-founder, Muhammad Afzal Qadri, called for the death of three Supreme Court justices involved in the 2018 acquittal of Christian Aasiya Noreen (Asia Bibi), who had been wrongly convicted of blasphemy and condemned to death.
TLP leaders arrived, and under their pressure police registered a case against the two Christians for derogatory remarks against Muhammad (Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code), punishable by death; defiling the Koran (Section 295-B), punishable by imprisonment for life and fine; and deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings (Section 295-A), punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine, Maria said. The complainant is listed as Haroon Ahmed.
“Mansha was taken into custody from the spot, while we have managed to obtain pre-arrest bail for Haroon Masih till Feb. 24,” she said. “Haroon and Mansha were not preaching to the Muslims as alleged in First Information Report [FIR] No. 61/21. In fact, they were reading the Bible and discussing it amongst themselves when a group of Muslim boys, including Ahmed, overheard them and objected to their Bible study.”
She said both Christians come from poor families, and Haroon Masih’s family has had to go into hiding out fear for their safety….
False accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan are common and often motivated by personal vendettas or religious hatred. The highly inflammatory accusations have the potential to spark mob lynchings, vigilante murders and mass protests….
Rights activists say it’s unlikely that any government will move to repeal or amend the blasphemy laws due to fierce Islamic religious sentiments in the Muslim-majority country. They say Pakistani authorities must be urged to immediately implement effective procedural and institutional safeguards at the investigative, prosecutorial and judicial levels to prevent abuse of these laws.
The U.S. State Department on Dec. 7 re-designated Pakistan among nine other “Countries of Particular Concern” for severe violations of religious freedom. Previously Pakistan had been added to the list on Nov. 28, 2018. The other countries on the list are Burma, China, North Korea, Eritrea, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Sudan and Uzbekistan were removed from the department’s Special Watch List due to improvements in their religious rights records.
Pakistan ranked fifth on Christian support organization Open Doors 2021 World Watch list of the 50 countries where it is most difficult to be a Christian.
Cornelius says
>Rights activists say it’s unlikely that any government will move to repeal or amend the blasphemy laws due to fierce Islamic religious sentiments in the Muslim-majority country. They say Pakistani authorities must be urged to immediately implement effective procedural and institutional safeguards at the investigative, prosecutorial and judicial levels to prevent abuse of these laws.
Reminds me a bit of the AMA’s previous advocacy of genital “nicking” as an alternative to FGM. Fortunately, the resulting outcry compelled them to back down. But the paradigm is the same here: Since Muslim traditions – in this case, archaic blasphemy laws – are antithetical to human progress and freedom and yet are ingrained in the collective ethos of the community, we must accept them and then try to mitigate their worst features.
“…procedural and institutional safeguards at the investigative, prosecutorial and judicial levels to prevent abuse of these laws”…..are not the answer. REPEAL of the laws is! And if the Pakistanis do not comply, they should face the sanction of the international community….or at the vert least, of the Western world. But the Western world is too busy validating Islam in the name of diversity to dare challenge those aspects of it that are an affront to our own values.
somehistory says
And they’ll use the little book they demanded as evidence,
Such deceit only can be inspired by satan, the father of these moslim “youth” scum, the group charging the Christians with a crime and all who are in favor of destroying Christianity. . They are an example of what happens when people teach their children evil and do not “oppose the devil.”
mortimer says
Entrapment was the procedure here. Led by Haroon Ahmed of the the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), an Islamist political party, they lured the Christian men into a scenario whereby they could be denounced and charged on fabricated, ‘taqiyya’-based evidence.
The TLP party came into existence, and subsequently rose to fame, after the hanging of Sharia-defending assassin Mumtaz Qadri, which the TLP states was unjustifiable. The TLP is known for its countrywide street power and massive protests in opposition to any change to Pakistan’s blasphemy law.
TLP demands that Sharia law be established as the fundamental law in Pakistan, through a gradual legal and political process. Most of the party’s members belong to the Barelvi school of Islamic thought, the majority in Pakistan.
Fabricated evidence is considered normative in Islam when it advances the cause of Islam.
mortimer says
These TLP activists behaved like Hitler’s Brown Shirts. Their motive was to persecute a religious minority to ‘cast fear into the hearts of the disbelievers’ as the Koran decrees.
somehistory says
Christians sometimes forget the second part of Jesus’s command to be “innocent as doves.” He also said to be “cautious” or “wise” as serpents…meaning one must be careful around agents of the devil.
This situation that Christians face in pakistan and other moslim ruled countries calls for both…and it seems that they have mastered the “innocent” part as they do not retaliate against the evil, but they must put up their guard when moslims are out and about where they can trick, deceive, and mob attack the innocent.
gravenimage says
The Christians here were in an impossible situation–if they hadn’t given the Muslims the book, they would have been violently condemned for it–ot the Muslims would have just stolen the book. They had no way out except for giving in to the Muslims and leaving when tne Muslims first demanded it–eroding the few rights they have in Pakistan even further.
Phil says
I work with two separate groups in Pakistan. They are Christians who help orphans, widows, as well as those who are virtual slaves at brick yards. $45 will feed 75 children with chicken and rice. They also need help getting bibles. We really need your help. If you wish to stand with us financially, please feel free to contact me at contact2cor129@gmail.com. Note, this is not a personal email address but one for the organization. The following is a link to a YouTube video I made a while back documenting what we are doing to help. Thanks and God bless. https://youtu.be/SmRrYpl10Js
gravenimage says
Thanks, Phil.
John Forbes says
The GREAT leap back to the SEVENTH CENTURY with this ISLAM! The WEST has no idea & seems unwilling to even LOOK! Cowardice like the UK with the Child Group Raping Epidemic! NOTHING being done still! There is no way that the BIDEN ADMINISTRATION or BIDEN will utter a “PEEP” about this!
Phil says
In a civilized and rational country the muslim youths would’ve been charged with harassment, lying, threats, wasting police time and christianophobia.
gravenimage says
Pakistan: Muslims charge two Christians with blasphemy after asking them about their faith
……………
Just being Christian in a Muslim-majority land is considered “blasphemy”.