As per the challan (charge sheet) submitted by the Pakistani police team who was investigating a blasphemy case against a teen-age mentally sick Christian girl, Rimsha, no evidence has been found that Rimsha desecrated the Holy Quran; instead the mosque Imam, Khalid Chishti, has been accused of tampering with evidence by adding burned pages of Holy Quran into the polythene bag allegedly being carried by Rimsha. Regardless of the police investigation, we know the facts on ground: Rimsha and her family has been sheltered in a ‘safe’ place in Islamabad (how safe that is only time will tell), a number of Christian families have left the poor neighborhood fearing reprisal attacks, Civil Judge Amir Aziz, who was earlier hearing the case has gone on leave, counsel for accuser, Rao Rahim, has already announced that if Rimsha is not punished by the court then a number of ‘Mumtaz Qadris’ will do the job (a reference to Punjab governor’s murderer).
In this backdrop, if it is proved that Imam Khalid Chishti burnt the Holy Quran prior to adding them to the polythene bag, he could be declared accused under the blasphemy law – 196 PPC (wherein he may face death penalty). We all know that blasphemy law has been misused by mischievous people to target their opponents, settle personal score, evacuate properties and businesses, and in most cases the defendants, though found innocent by the courts, were murdered in broad day light, socially boycotted, thrown out of the area. Accusers were never charged and they achieved whatever they were looking for.
We need to break this cycle of death game; let’s request authorities not to book Imam Chishti under the blasphemy law-196 PPC, instead he shall be charged for fraudulent and tampering with evidence – a charge to be handled by an ordinary criminal court.
MASOOD KHAN
Jubail, Saudi Arabia