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February 24, 2006

Pakistan: Koran Blasphemy Riots: 88 Muslims Acquitted, Christian Freed

The Pakistan Daily Times has announced today that the Christian man accused of burning pages of the Koran has been acquitted of blasphemy, a so-called crime which under the country's prejudicial legal system can carry the death penalty. Blasphemy for Pakistan only means blasphemy against Islam.

The Lahore Anti Terrorist court acquitted Yousaf Maseh of Sangla Hill on Thursday (yesterday), stating lack of evidence as grounds for acquittal.

Additionally, 88 Muslims, who were accused of burning churches in Sangla Hill, were similarly acquitted on grounds of insufficient evidence to secure a conviction.

On February 18, 64 men were released on bail bonds of 50,000 rupees each, and ordered the release of 11 children under the age of legal responsibility.

We reported on this case when the anti-Christian rioting happened on November 12, 2005. Yousaf Maseh of Sangla Hill, a community 80 miles northeast of Lahore in the Punjab, had been gambling with two Muslims, and had won a large amount of money.

His gambling partners then accused him of burning pages of the Koran at a Quran Mahal, a repository where torn or damaged copies of the Koran were taken prior to restoration. No evidence was ever brought to prove the pages of the books were burned, least of all by Maseh.

With mosques announcing the "blasphemy", 1500 Muslims rampaged through the Christian quarter, where Christians comprise only 10% of the local population. We described the events:

Father Samson Dilawar, the Catholic parish priest of the church of Nazooli-i-Rooh said: ""I heard the mullahs had been telling people over loudspeakers, 'We are guardians of the Koran and it is our foremost duty to teach a lesson to those kafirs', then they came to my door."

Father Dilawar's residence had chemicals doused upon it, and it was set ablaze, along with St Anthony's primary school, the church, convent boarding house and medical centre. Statues of Christ had their feet snapped off, crucifixes were bent, and habits of nuns burned.

The rioters had been shouting insults, such as "kafirs", "chucha" (meaning non-Muslims and untouchables) and "kuta" (dogs).

Reverend Tajmal Pervez, of the Presbyterian church said that, in a century in which local Christians had been living in the region, this was the worse incident so far. All that remained of his church was a smouldering wreck. Three other churches on the outskirts of Sangla Hill were also attacked.

Maseh was taken into custody, as much for his protection as a judicial reason, as police spokespeople at the time expresed doubts about his guilt.

In December the visiting archbishop of Canterbury, head of the ANglican church condemned the event, and pointed out the iniquities of the country's blasphemy regulations.

Shortly before Christmas, a shaky peace deal between the Muslim and Christian communities was announced, but less than a week later, Christians began receiving death threats from Lashkar-e-Jhvangi an extreme Sunni group which foments sectarian violence aganst those who are not Sunni Muslims, including Shias and Christians. This group was involved with the beheading of Daniel Pearl in January 2002.

The acquittals of the 88 Muslims yesterday happened with the approval of Christian missionary representatives, who claimed that those apprehended were not the ones involved in the arson attacks.

What is unsatisfactory is the acquittal of Yousa Maseh for "insufficient evidence". This is not the same as freeing him and declaring him innocent. Local mosques used loudspeakers to incite the mob, and no-one from these mosques appears to be on trial.

This is only a speculation, but the reason that Mr Maseh was so easily found by the mob of being guilty of a crime (which never had evidence of burned Koran pages), and casts further doubt on the accusations against him, is the similarity of his name to another Christian man in a notorious case of "Koran burning" at Nowshera.

This other man, Yousaf Masih was freed, but had to live thenceforward in fear of his life. He had been accused of burning pages which bore verses from the Koran, but did so because he is illiterate and of low IQ, and was charged by his employers to burn "rubbish" on June 28, 2005. A small child saw him, and she reported him.

The Asia News stated that he had a weak heart, and was beaten by police. Following his release, and numerous death threats, he had had to live in hiding.

With this case being well known, it may have helped the Muslim rabble to identify the Yousaf Maseh of Sangla Hill to be found guilty. Maseh or Masih is a common surname among the Christians in Pakistan. However, they are a minority of only 3% of the national population.

As has been demonstrated in the current cartoon issue, where three "fake" pictures were added to a file of the pictures shown to leaders in the Middle East, trivial matters such as truth, evidence and verification are rarely needed to incite a Muslim riot.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at February 24, 2006 6:22 PM

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