Rimsha blasphemy case evokes fear in Gojra

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For Rafia Margaret, the case of a young 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 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 rumors 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 neighbor’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 neighbor’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 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 Holy Quran.
Rimsha, aged 14 and mentally subnormal according to a medical report, was arrested on blasphemy charges on August 16 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.
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 traumatized.
“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 marginalized 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.

3 COMMENTS

  1. Pakistan is lost. The people of Pakistan have forgotten the true tenants of Islam and gone back to the very barbaric culture against which Islam came in the first place. India is not muslim but look at their minorities flourish. Look at the muslims in India gain more and more rights. Do not quote Kashmir. If Pakistan would let Kashmir alone – it will also develop like the rest of india and people will have peace. Two countries; which gained independence at the same time. One almost about to become a world super power; giving aid to the world bank and entering the space race against America and China and the other about the join ranks with Afghanistan and Somalia and bankrupt. What can we make of this situation. I think you can bank all of the situation on the door steps of our politicians; mullahs and army.

  2. President Asif Ali Zardari did a wonderful job by taking a notice of 11-year-old Rimsha’s case promptly. Soon after her arrest when the news came in the media, he asked the interior ministry to investigate and report the details to him. During a media briefing, a spokeswoman of the US State Department also expressed her satisfaction over the way Pakistan’s authorities have handled the case. It is commendable that President Zardari fervently kept himself abreast with the developments of the case and insisted on giving justice to the girl. It is not only a matter of providing fair treatment to this young girl but it is a matter of our country’s reputation, which is already marred by repeated events of terrorism and extremism. It is time that we begin washing these stigmas from ourselves so that we are treated as a normal nation that looks forward to live in peace with itself and its neighbours.

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