President Zardari called on officials on Monday to explain the arrest on blasphemy charges of a Christian girl who allegedly burnt pages inscribed with verses from the Quran.
Police said the girl, Rifta, was arrested in a Christian slum of the capital last Thursday and remanded in custody for 14 days after a furious Muslim mob demanded she be punished.
A police official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the girl was in her teens. Activists say she is 11 years old.
The president took “serious note” of the arrest and called on the interior ministry to submit a report on the case, state media said.
Some reports suggested the girl had been burning papers collected from the rubbish for cooking when someone entered her house and accused the family of burning pages inscribed with verses from the Quran.
Human rights activists say the law is often used to settle petty disputes.
Muslim anger over the alleged incident forced Christians to flee the Mehrabad slum, home to hundreds of Christians 20 minutes’ drive from Western embassies.
“These Christians had sought shelter with their relatives in other parts of the city but now they are gradually returning to Mehrabad,” a senior official of All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, Tahir Naveed Chaudhry told AFP.
He said the girl had Down’s Syndrome — a condition which causes various degrees of learning difficulties — and disputed the age given by police.
“She was just 11 to 12 years old,” he said, adding his organisation wanted the hugely sensitive case resolved “amicably”.
The Women’s Action Forum (WAF), a leading Pakistani organisation fighting for the rights of women, condemned Riftaa’s arrest.
Spokeswoman Tahira Abdullah demanded her immediate release and expressed outrage at the “total inhumanity” of the men who lodged the case with police.
Police should have dealt with the case under the Juvenile Justice System, she said, accusing police of not allowing lawyers or civil society representatives to visit the girl.
Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in January 2011 and minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti two months later for their opposition to the blasphemy law.
They had taken up the plight of a Christian mother sentenced to death for blasphemy in late 2010. She remains in prison.
Last month, a Pakistani mob snatched a mentally unstable man from a village police station and beat him to death in central Punjab province after he allegedly burned pages from the Quran.
this case is quite complicated
this case is quite complicated
Where is your favorite Kana judge. Why did he not take Sue Moto notice which he is so fond of taking on every trivial matter.
@yameen. I know it may seem like trivial to you but somebody's liberty, and maybe life, is on the line. Your favorite president is taking notice because his appointees can't take care of the law and order. He does not have any presidential to do so he is reduced to taking notices of "trivial" things. I bet your mama enjoys his royal rod up her hole though 🙂
Well Said ….LOL
this case is so embarrassing. please solve it ASAP
Pakistan is the worst case scenerio of Islam. Cant help feeling that such a case would never happen outside anywhere. Pakistan must look at its soul, quickly
The saudis and the gulf states are WORSE, and lets not even begin to talk about the african so called muslim countries. but yes we have reached a new low.
So Sad in Islamic Resbublic of Pakistan…. where is so called SUO MOTTO justice….patheticc CJ…
we r really thankful to our president for taking action on this matter…. but can someone explain me the 11 years old poor girl know these are holy pages…. how long we Christians will bear this sword of blasphemy law on our neck…. so sad … we are also a follower of holy book…. how can we insult another holy book…. so sad…..
what Islam…. which Islam… whose Islam….
It is so surprising that not even a single religous scholar of this land of pure has condemned this incident of putting the girl in jail. Is this teaching of Isalm to go after a 11 year old child. Shame on this so called muslim nation. This is a sick soceity by any human standards.
it is because of politicians like Imran and Nawaz supporting terrorist outfits and advocating their cause on media, and trying to justify their bomb blasts on TV channels just to promote their political interests. It is becuase they know simple Pakistan public supports Taliban in the name of anti-Americanism.
Zardari is an excellent strategists and possesses a lot of common sense-a necessary trait for a ruler. Common sense is a gift of God for which one need not be a highly educated person.
Trash.
Law is there but not to be abused. Action should not be taken in haste or reported by/in the press, without obtaining the facts and verifying the truth of the incident. If a person is insane, he or she should be subject to medical examination prior to taking any action. Abdul Wahid Osman Advocate High Court
We need to stop this madness and look at it in dispassionate/ cool headily manner. its my appeal to my fellow countrymen. this is not a light issue. today they are after, christian, tomorrow they would be after shias, and then barelvis, and then minorities of different province…this cycle would never stops.Its still not too late.
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