Christians in Mariam Town Flee Homes After Blasphemy Accusations
Three separate cases of blasphemy accusations against Christians in Sargodha, Punjab, Pakistan, occurred in less than a month in July 2023, sparking violence and leaving Christian residents anxious for their safety.
The latest occurred on July 16 in the village of Chak No. 50, called ‘Mariam Town’. According to the First Investigation Report (FIR) Mohd Abdul Gaffar, a retired PakistaniAir Force officer, was returning home after morning prayers around 5 a.m. with Qari Muhammad Asif, imam of the local mosque. He found a handwritten piece of paper pasted on the perimeter wall of his house with caricatures and comments insulting Prophet Muhammad, his wife Ayesha, and the Quran, and even praising the recent burning of the Quran in Sweden.
The news spread quickly in the area, attracting people to the site. The Muslim mob expressed their anger and threatened to attack the Christians for alleged blasphemy against Islam, giving a 48-hour ultimatum to the police to arrest and severely punish the unknown blasphemer. Fear gripped residents of the predominantly Christian neighborhood. Sunday Masses and prayer services were called off and the police were deployed in the area to curtail any unrest. Nearly half of the Christian population fled their homes fearing retribution.
The police arrived at the scene to bring the situation under control and filed a complaint (First Information Report) against unknown persons pursuant to articles 295a, 295b, 295c, and 298a of the Penal Code, articles which constitute the so-called ‘blasphemy law’. Although the identity of the blasphemous content writer is unknown, the outraged mob began vandalizing Christian homes in retaliation, forcing police to patrol the area to maintain order and prevent more serious incidents.
Shahzad Haroon Accused of Blasphemy over Social Media post
Less than two weeks earlier, on July 5, Haroon Shahzad, a 45-year-old Christian from the village of Chak No. 49, was accused of blasphemy and arrested for publishing a passage from the Bible regarding food sacrificed to idols on his Facebook social network account. The passage posted was 1 Corinthians 10:18-21 : “Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? 19 Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s Table and the table of demons.”
Although Shahzad did not make any comments, insulting or otherwise, in the post, it was considered offensive because Muslims were beginning the four-day festival of Eid al-Adha (Feast of the Sacrifice), which involves slaughtering an animal and sharing the meat in commemoration of God providing a lamb for Abraham to sacrifice instead of his son. A Muslim villager took a screenshot of the post, sent it to local social media groups, and accused Shahzad of disrespecting the Abrahamic tradition of animal sacrifice and likening Muslims to pagans. Announcements were made from the mosques and villagers started gathering. Sensing the tension and possible attack, Shahzad went into hiding along with his wife and 6 children. Fearing the situation could get out of control, many Christians also fled their homes for safety, leaving everything behind.
The police arrested Shahzad’s two sisters-in-law and registered a case under 295-A and 298 under the pressure of the mob backed by the extremist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan. According to reports, Shahzad’s social media post was construed as a blasphemy offense due to personal grudges. A local citizen, Mohammad Imran Ullah, held a grudge over a piece of land, and at his instigation, fellow Muslims incited the masses through the false cry of “blasphemy.” The plot of land had been allotted by the Deputy Commissioner in the name of Shahzad’s father, Younis Masih, a member of the local Presbyterian Church, to build a church. Local Muslims, especially Mohammad Imran Ullah, opposed this plan, and resorted to repeated court injunctions to stop the Christians from building their church. They finally lost the legal fight, and it is suspected they plotted the false blasphemy accusations in retaliation.
Christian Man Arrested over Blasphemy Charges
In a similar way, in the village of Chak No. 98 in the same district, a 35-year-old Christian, Zaki Masih, was accused of blasphemy on July 8, when his post on Facebook criticized the perpetrators of food fraud. A local Muslim, Muhammad Awais, accused Zaki of insulting Islam by sharing a post on Facebook. Awais and his friends tried to get support against Zaki from fellow Muslims and the local Imam; they, however, discouraged Awais and the others from inciting hatred against the Christians, saying the post contained nothing derogatory against Islam, and that they should desist from stoking religious tension.
When Awais was unsuccessful in mobilizing the mob, he became furious and filed a blasphemy case against Zaki. Police arrested Zaki under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes relating to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs,” punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine, or both. He was also charged under Section 298 against hurting religious sentiments, punishable by up to one year in prison, a fine, or both.
It is believed that some radical groups may be using the Quran-burning incident in Sweden as a pretext for acts of revenge. Unfortunately, whenever a blasphemy allegation is brought against any person, the police outright register a case under mob pressure, in the guise of protective custody, without proper investigation or following legal procedures.
It is very important that the government take the matter of false accusations seriously, and do what is necessary to stop the misuse of the blasphemy law, ensure the safety of innocent victims, and bring false accusers to justice.