Pakistan is one of several Muslim nations with laws against damaging a Quran. As a nation with a 97 percent Muslim majority, religious minorities are often on the wrong end of these laws. One of the saddest examples in recent times is the story of Rimsha Masih, a 14-year-old, disabled girl from a Christian family. In August 2012, Rimsha was accused of damaging a Quran after she was found in possession of singed pages. Under pressure from a threatening mob, police arrested the girl while 600 Christian families from her village were forced to flee their homes. A local Muslim cleric, Khalid Jadoon, was later accused of planting the evidence. He had called for the Christians to be burned alive, adding horrible implications to his alleged crime. He was due to be tried at the high court in Islamabad, but the case was dropped following witness statements changing. Jadoon accused the police of placing people under duress to obtain the original statements. Those on the other side have accused Islamic extremists of threatening the witnesses into retracting their stories. Whoever is correct, it remains a tragic case that the authorities handled very badly.
Posted on: Fri, 08 Aug 2014 07:07:37 +0000
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