As I sign up to news feeds of various human rights and minority rights groups, I had been flooded with news of the issue.
Here's Asian Human Rights Commission's earlier report on the issue:-
PAKISTAN: The Christian community in Punjab is under threat from extremist groups again; two brothers are illegally charged with blasphemy
ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME
Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-102-2010
14 July 2010
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PAKISTAN: The Christian community in Punjab is under threat from extremist groups again; two brothers are illegally charged with blasphemy
ISSUE: Religious minorities; blasphemy law; threats; arbitrary detention
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Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that two Christian men are in imminent danger after they were arrested, without a legitimate investigation, for blasphemy.
The police officers involved have not followed the penal code, which only allows such charges to be made after an investigation by the superintendent of police. Blasphemy can still be met with the death penalty in Pakistan.
Violent rallies by radical Muslims in the area have called for the men's deaths, and Christians have reportedly begun to leave the neighbourhood. They fear that a new attack is planned for the end of the month, around the anniversary of a deadly attack on Christians 50km away in Korian village, Tehsil Gojra; six were set alight and burned to death. Mosque loudspeakers are also being freely used to incite the violence, which is illegal.
Immediate action must be taken to remove the men from danger, take up their case according to the laws and procedures of the country, and quell the rising tide of violence against the Christian community.
CASE NARRATIVE:
Mr. Rashid Emmanuel, 32, is a pastor.
On the evening of 2 July he received a telephone call from a man who claimed to be from the La Salle School, a prominent Christian educational centre. He asked to meet Mr. Rashid about an urgent matter at Zilla Council chowk (crossroads) in Faisalabad. When Rashid arrived later that evening he saw four persons standing in the dark; before ten uniformed police officers reportedly emerged and arrested him.
He was taken to the Civil Lines Police Station nearby and shown a photocopy of a four-page handwritten pamphlet that criticized Islam and its last prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The pamphlet appeared to be signed by Rashid and his younger brother Sajid Emmanuel, and instructed the reader to contact them for further information. It featured their cell phone numbers and national identity card numbers.
The police detained Rashid and released a boy who they had mistakenly thought to be Rashid's brother. The blasphemy complaint was filed by Mr. Mohammad Khurram Shehzad, a printer who reportedly declared that his assistant had seen a man distributing the pamphlets at Lari Adda, the city’s main bus terminus, on 1 July. Based on this information the police filed a First Information Report (FIR), a legal document for case proceeding in the court). You can read it here.
However the blasphemy law was amended in 2004 specifically to avoid its abuse via baseless charges. As details below the blasphemy charge can still be met with the death penalty, yet it often arises amid neighbourhood vendettas.
Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPP) now states that no case of blasphemy can be filed without the investigation of the superintendent of police.
A representative of the Christian community – Mr. Atif Jamil Pagan, the Chief of Pakistan Minorities Democratic Harmony Foundation – contacted the police and was told by the SHO that a sub inspector and an assistant superintendent had been chosen for the investigation; he allegedly acknowledged that they were not complying with section 295C of the PPC because they were under pressure from extremist Muslim groups in the community. The sub inspector, a Mr. Mohammad Hessian, later told Atif that the accused was being detained without evidence against him because the case was a sensitive one.
On 3 July we are told that the police took Rashid to the Anti Terrorist Court (ATC) for police remand, where the case was correctly refused. Religious matters are no longer under the authority of the ATC, as maintained in clause 780 of the Anti Terrorist Act (ATA) 1997. Rashid was taken to a duty magistrate in the Civil Lines jurisdiction, who agreed to his two-day remand in police custody, despite the breach of procedure.
We are told that during this time the sub inspector summoned Atif Pagan to the police station and asked that he produce Rashid’s young brother. For his protection, Pagan arranged for Sajid to be handed to the police in the presence of Bishop Joseph Couetts of Faisalabad. The police then asked the brothers to handwrite each pamphlets three times. On 7 July the writing samples were sent to experts in Lahore, around 200km from Faisalabad, but the experts reportedly replied that they could not work from the photocopied pamphlets.
During this time groups of organized Muslim activists started to rally against the brothers in public: we are told that the loudspeakers from a number of mosques were used illegally to do so, and to incite violence against local Christians (in breach, as noted below, of Section 3 of the Loud Speaker Act 1965). On 7 July a procession in Warispura saw local Muslim residents chanting threatening slogans against Christians; one chant called for the hanging of Rashid and Sajid, and we are informed that the mob attacked a Catholic Church, breaking its windows and doors. On 10 July persons in another procession burnt tires on the streets; a call went up declaring that Christians would not be allowed to live in Warispura. At 1am that night a procession of motorbikes took place, with riders allegedly harassing Christians who were leaving their homes with their belongings. The protestors announced that a meeting would be held at Ghanta Chowk on 11 July, a central gathering place for such rallies.
We are told that the police began efforts to address the protestors on the evening of 10 July, and that after a number of meetings it was agreed that the rallies and threats should stop.
However protest gatherings continued on 11 July, and united into a large meeting at noon, at which Muslim leaders from various religious political parties, among them
Khatme-e-Nabowat, Jamiat Ulema-ePakistan and Namoos-e-Risalat reportedly reiterated death threats against the brothers, because the government had not sentenced them to death. We are told that among the speakers were Sahibzada Abulkhair Mahumed Zubair and Syed Hidayat Hussain Shah, who are known for inciting violence in the area.
At the meeting it was announced that a set of gallows had been set up at the tower of Ghanta Ghar (in the centre of Faisalabad), in preparation for the hanging of blasphemous Christians.
We are told that the brothers remain in detention at the police station without adequate protection against mob violence. There are strong fears that they could be attacked. The men have reported that co-detainees are also threatening them. Immediate action must be taken to remove them from danger, provide strong state protection, take up their case according to the laws and procedures of the country, and quell the rising tide of violence against the Christian community.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Almost a year ago six Christians, two of them women, were set alight and burned to death under similar circumstances just 50km away in Korian village, Tehsil Gojra, as reported in urgent appeal: A human rights activist faces terrorism charges for publicising the murder of Christians, while the mullahs who encouraged the violence remain free and mentioned again in: Newspaper advertisements call for the murder of a human rights lawyer in Punjab; police silently spectate. Houses were also set on fire. The Christian community in Wasapura is extremely concerned that a similar attack could be planned around the anniversary of the Gojra violence, on 31 July. With such incidents already proven to be possible, it is imperative that these concerns are acted on, and the greatest efforts are taken by the administration to protect these Pakistanis from potential attack, and reassure them of their security and their rights.
Religious minority groups in Pakistan remain vulnerable due to the continued use and abuse of blasphemy charges, despite section 295C of the PPC. This must be strongly implemented if minorities are to be protected. Police who fail to follow the code and who operate under the directive of extremists in the community must face strong legal action. Charges of blasphemy are still met with the death penalty in Pakistan, and desecrating the Quran carries a life sentence.
The AHRC is also aware of several recent cases in which mosques have used loud speakers to provoke anger against religious minorities. Section 3 of Loud Speaker Act 1965 bans all types of speeches other than Azan (the call to prayer) and the Friday sermon in Arabic. Charges must be taken against those who allow the mosques to be used illegally to incite violence.
Here is one of the most comprehensive of earlier reports:-
Brothers face the death penalty
By Dan Wooding
Founder of ASSIST Ministries
FAISALABAD, PAKISTAN (ANS) -- Muslims in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad are threatening to torch the houses of Christians after the arrest of two Christian brothers over alleged blasphemy churches in the first week of July, ANS has learned.
The Christian men were residing in house no. P-230, Street no 5, Mohalla Daudnagar, Faisalabad, before they were accused of blasphemy.
Mr. Walter Naveed of Human Rights Focus Pakistan told ANS that Rashid Emmanuel, 32 and Sajid Masih, 30, had been running “United Ministries Pakistan” for the last two years in Daudnagar near the Warispura Christian colony of Faisalabad.
He said the pair was accused by Khurram Shahzad, a Muslim man, of pasting allegedly blasphemous posters in a truck station in Faisalabad.
“The arrests have provoked Muslims to take out agitation rallies across Faisalabad,” Naveed told ANS.
He explained how they had been set up.
“They (Rashid Emmanuel and Sajid Masih) received a phone call a week ago. The caller told them that he would like to meet them in connection with their ministry’s website,” said Naveed.
When Rashid went to meet the caller at the nearby railway station, the appointed venue of the meeting, the police were already there waiting for him.
Mr. Naveed said that the police took Rashid to police station and he was later charged with committing blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad.
"When Sajid, Rashid’s brother, went to tell the police that his brother was innocent, he too was arrested by the police."
The two Christian men now could face the death penalty.
295-C of Pakistan Penal Code reads: “Use of derogatory remarks, etc; in respect of the Holy Prophet. Whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”
Naveed disclosed that Khurram Shahzad had lodged a police First Information Report (FIR) against Rashid Emmanuel and Sajid Masih and quoted him as stating stating that he read many posters containing “blasphemous content” in the Faisalabad Lorry Station and that details of the United Ministries Pakistan were present on the posters.
Naveed said that Khurram Shahzad stated in the FIR that he took the poster to the owner of the steel factory where he worked and quotes the complainant as stating in the FIR that the factory owner’s eyes "welled with tears" as he read the poster so he accompanied with Khurram Shahzad to the police station.
Rashid Emmanuel and Sajid’s family members have fled to safety, fearing more trouble, said Naveed.
He described the situation in Warispura Christian colony in Faisalabad as “tense” and that the Christians there are hoping not to face a “Gojra-like situation.”
Gojra, a small town in province Punjab of Pakistan exploded into international limelight last year when seven Christians were burned alive by angry Muslims over rumors that Christians had committed blasphemy.
Naveed said that the Christians of Warispura, a large Christian colony in Faisalabad, are feeling “highly insecure” after Muslims have held a string of rallies over the past week.
The local human rights activist said that a large number of enraged Muslims attended a rally in Warispura on July 12, 2010, and among those there were students of nearby Madrassas (religious schools).
Mr. Naveed said that agitation rallies were taken out across Faisalabad city on July 13, 2010. He said these rallies headed towards Ghantaghar and Railway Road Faisalabad.
He quoted one of his friends, who had heard on Friday, July 16, 2010 mosque announcements provoking Muslims to protest at a rally and also to “burn the houses of Christians.”
Neveed said that Muslims could not succeed in setting Christians’ houses on fire on Friday, July 16, 2010 but did not rule out this possibility in the days to come “as the situation on the ground stands tense and uncertain”.
He said that Rashid and Sajid were imprisoned in district Jail Faisalabad.
Asked if the two Christian men could be attacked in prison, he referred to "extra judicial killings of Christians in police custody" in past and said that an attempt to kill the two men in prison "could not be ruled out."
According to media reports, the Christians of Daud Nagar, Warispura, Barkatpura, Bilal Town, Ibne Marriam and Jhandapir in Faisalabad are living under constant fear as a result of processions taken out by extremist Muslim organizations.
Read the posts by Pakistan Christian Post regarding the issue when the case was filed:-
Pakistan Christian Post
