Blasphemy case evokes fear in Pakistan Christian town
Residents gather outside the house of a Christian girl, who was arrested on charges of blasphemy, in the low-income neighbourhood of Mehrabad in the suburb of Islamabad. — Photo by AP
GOJRA: For Rafia Margaret, the case of a young Pakistani Christian girl accused of blasphemy rekindled horrifying memories of the day a furious mob smashed through her front door and torched her house.
On August 1, 2009 Margaret, then aged 28, had just finished breakfast at home in the Punjab town of Gojra when she heard the announcements over the mosque loudspeakers urging Muslims to attack the Christian quarter.
Minutes later an angry crowd massed outside her modest one-storey house in the Korian area of the town baying for revenge after rumours spread that Christians had desecrated a Quran.
As the pack swelled still further and violence erupted, she ran to her roof to judge the seriousness of the situation while her mother and ailing father sought refuge in a Muslim neighbour’s house.
The sight of the tall, elegant girl on the roof enraged the mob still further and they began attacking her door.
“I was terrified, so frightened I couldn’t think. I thought I was going to lose everything. I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to climb over to the Muslim neighbour’s house where my parents were hiding,” she said.
“Just as I got there, they entered our home and set it on fire. My father had had heart surgery a few days earlier and when he went back and saw his house burned down, he died,” she told AFP, weeping.
The Muslim mobs razed a total of 77 houses in Gojra, which lies 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the industrial hub of Faisalabad and had never before seen tensions between its 495,000 Muslims and 35,000 Christians.
Seven members of a family were killed in the violence.
The terror of that day came flooding back to Margaret two weeks ago when angry crowds massed in a poor Islamabad suburb to demand punishment for Rimsha, a young Christian girl accused of burning papers containing verses from the Quran.
Rimsha, aged 14 and mentally subnormal according to a medical report, was arrested on blasphemy charges on August 18 and has been held in prison ever since.
“When I heard a Christian girl had burnt the Quran in Islamabad, I felt unsafe in my home. I thought they might come to attack us again,” said Margaret.
“Whenever something happens between Muslims and Christians across the country, I’m frightened that somebody might attack my house and our colony to take revenge,” she said.
Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive subject in Pakistan, where 97 percent of the 180 million population are Muslims. Even unproven allegations of insulting Islam or desecrating the Koran can prompt anger and even violence.
Last month a 2,000-strong mob stormed a police station in central Pakistan to seize a mentally disturbed man accused of burning the Quran and beat him to death before burning his body.
And last year two leading politicians Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti were assassinated after raising their voices against the blasphemy legislation, which includes the death penalty for insulting the prophet Mohammad.
In Korian, the focal point of the violence in 2009, newly built red-brick houses with freshly painted walls and street lights have turned the village into a model town.
But Shamaun Masih’s children, who witnessed the rampage in 2009, are still traumatised.
“They always start weeping whenever they see something unusual. They still remember that violence. When they heard about Rimsha’s case, they reacted as if it happened here… and they were scared of a fresh attack,” he said.
Three years on from the Gojra carnage, Margaret’s house has been rebuilt along with 75 others.
Compensation of 500,000 rupees ($5,200) was paid to the families of the dead and 100,000 rupees to those who lost their homes, but the people responsible for the bloody rampage went free.
The main witness of the case, Almas Hameed, who lost seven relatives and reported the case to police, fled the country with the rest of the family.
His house was the only one of those torched in the violence that has not been rebuilt, and notices summoning him to court as a witness remain pasted to his front door.
Christians are among Pakistan’s most marginalised minorities, with many impoverished and trapped in dirty, menial jobs.
The new houses built for Christians in Korian have created further jealousy among Muslims in the area.
“They mock us now, saying we have got new houses but one day they will also be destroyed,” said Khaliq Barkat, the priest of the local church.
As Rimsha goes into her third week in prison and her family hide for fear of violent reprisals, Margaret doubts Pakistan’s Christians and Muslims will ever live in true harmony.
“I don’t think it will ever come to an end. There is lack of wisdom and knowledge among our people. We need to learn to tolerate each other,” she said, wiping away tears.
I have a different opinion than the rest of the ones who commented, the problem is not with the majority masses, the problem is with the law and order, the government don’t want to take action against the culprits, it is just not true for this incident but for all such incidents, the government fears the mullahs and hence no one is ever punished, this in a way makes them more confident. Why would anyone fear the law if there is no action? Sadly, Pakistan is not a country to live in for anyone if you are not a sunni muslim.
read in today’s dawn news only. when in some senator in Washington said that US is home land for US Muslims as well . no if no buts.
Seems we Muslims in Pakistan being 97% feel so insecure that our Mullas and Imams have to yell from mosques to attack the minorities. We need to be ashamed that our religious leaders feel so insecure that they use Islam to kill children minorities. With these kind of atrocities what should we expect from the minorities ? As a majority, we should be more affectionate, caring and winning them with love and affection. With the kind of deeds our religious leaders , how can we expect any respect from these minorities except their fear seeing us.
This is very sad to see Muslim behave in ways contradictory to Islam. Islam is beautiful and just religion; but it has been hijacked by ignorant mullans who have no knowledge of Islam. Common people are easily manipulated by these ignorant mullans; common folks are very emotional and do not think about the consequence of their actions. It is because of lack of knowledge of Islam. From to top to bottom Pakistan is a mess due to very low literacy. May Allah guide the Muslims in doing the right thing.
Guidence comes when you ask for it, Allah does not grant you something just because you consider yourself the “chosen one”, you have to beg for it, cry for it, and clear your heart from any “kadoorat”, only then you receive the guidence, Allah knows what’s in your heart and He will never grant you anything when your heart and mind are not aligned.
For God sake this is a small child who don’t know what they are doing.Mullahs are taking country to a disaster path.
Are Muslims and their religion so insecure …. that some mentally challenged child even accidentally or inadvertently burning some paper would destroy their religion ???
The girl was purposefully accused to get the material advantage.Muslims are feeling insecure because lot of educated Muslims are not listening to mullah’s.
I am so sad for our Christian community and so ashamed of my so called muslims who suddenly turn in to ferocious wolves. They should learn from the example of the Holy Prophet of Islam, tolerant and loving and caring for all other faiths. He let Christians pray in his mosque and stood up for a jewish funeral as it passed by. These muslims are headed in the opposite direction to the example and advice of their prophet hence they are the real blasphemers.
What you should also state is that 97% of the 97% Muslim majority are illiterate and poor, thereby making them easy targets for exploitation by so called political and religious leaders.
Pakistan is hell bent on committing mass suicide.
As a pakistani and a muslim I am ashamed of these people who call themselves as muslims and terrorize other innocent people then go and pray. Allah will never forgive them and they will go to hell despite all their prayers. Even these so called mullah’s will meet their fate in hell. What will they say when they meet the maker ‘oh i killed those people in your name’ and i do not think he will forgive them. They are the blasphemers.
who started this terror..we should first correct this…our forign policies are not correct and this resulting internal immbalance…is’nt it..
this is the true face of pakistan for non muslim community..
Minorities can never live in harmony in Pakistan until this black law of blasphemy exist.
Until this blasphemy law exist, Pakistan will never have peace in the country – the facts is very much before our eyes everyday.
Religion of Peace……………
Reality …. well – it is how you interpret it… All religions have some points of intolerance in them – be it Christianity or Jews or any other. It is only in the time-frame you can judge them. At present Muslims have this tendency quite high (Many factors are reason) – but Christians do not have …. Few Centuries back – Christians were as bad as Current Muslims……
but yes current Muslims are not peaceful nor tolerant – I am a Muslim myself
Muhammed, Thing were quite different few centuries back. Education, was not there at that time. Kings were the decision maker and a lot of blind faith was there.The problem is most of the people from other religion has come out of that mode now . but Muslims are going backward.
what a power and what an abuse…evil.
If there is any country in the world where minorities can’t even breath is sureely, PAKISTAN!
Islam teaches tolerance among muslims and non-muslims, people spreading non tolerance in the name of religion are going against the Islamic teachings and teachings of Prohet Mohammed, peace be upon him.
isn’t it rediculous? Don’t you have a single sane person in Pakistan?
It is not the country. It is the religion.
It is not the religon , it is man made laws and conspiracy by the politicans to remain in power. Otherwise who in their rightmimds would support such blashpmeous Islamic clergy!! I would have tried each and every one of them in a court of law and punished them for life!!!
You people have so much hate about islam , but truth will prevail .
Not true. There are lots of decent people in the country but they are helpless as the power resides with the fanatic elements of the society empowered by some of the laws of the land and weak elements of the society who obey without using their minds.
And Now still there is not one brave leader in Pakistan who will stand up for what is right and get that poor traumatized girl out of jail…shame on you all…
If the girl is innocent she will be released truth will come out