Islamabad: Over 35 Christian families have fled their homes in Pakistan’s Punjab province after a Muslim mob set fire to a Christian man’s house and shop following blasphemy accusations against him, amid fears of further violence, a report has highlighted, citing sources.
According to a report in Christian Daily International-Morning Star News, dozens of Muslims assembled outside Kamran Masih’s shop and adjacent home on Friday to protest, before some members of the crowd set the two buildings on fire.
The report stated that police arrested Masih, a 40-year-old father of three who ran a small pharmacy in Gharial Kalan village in Punjab’s Sheikhupura district, on Thursday night after local Muslims accused him of sharing a blasphemous video in WhatsApp groups.
“As word of Masih’s arrest spread, his family and other Christians started fleeing the village, fearing a mob attack,” a source told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News on condition of anonymity.
Referring to Masih’s relatives and other sources, the report said it was unclear which provisions of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws had been invoked against him.
A large number of police personnel had been deployed in the village to safeguard Christian residents and their properties, an official at the Sheikhupura District police chief’s office said, adding that the investigation was underway.
“I’m not permitted to share more information due to the sensitivity of the situation,” the official told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
Human rights organisations and legal experts have repeatedly criticised Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, warning that they are susceptible to misuse in personal feuds and other disputes and have disproportionately affected religious minorities.
Recently, a report stated that officials in Pakistan reported to a parliamentary committee that most of the 333 blasphemy cases lodged in the country’s four provinces in the past five years were false.
Provincial home secretaries and senior police officials reported to the Senate’s Functional Committee on Human Rights that the false cases included those involving Christians and other religious minorities. The official data presented to the committee revealed that Punjab province reported the highest number of cases under Section 295-C of the blasphemy law, with 116 cases lodged in the past five years, Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reported.
Sindh province recorded 96 cases under Section 295-B and 29 cases under Section 295-C. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reported over 90 blasphemy cases during the past five years, while Balochistan province recorded 28 cases during the same period.
The provincial officials told the committee that blasphemy allegations were frequently linked to personal vendettas, family disputes and other private conflicts. In many cases, they said, the probe did not find any proof backing the accusations, resulting in the dismissal of the cases, Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reported.
Earlier, a leading minority group accused Pakistan of failing to curb the misuse of blasphemy laws, citing false allegations, widespread mob violence against the accused, and failure to protect the minorities from their consequences.
According to the Voice of Pakistan Minority (VOPM), the blasphemy laws remain among Pakistan’s most “controversial issues”, with their impact on religious minorities and the continued failure of institutions to prevent their misuse.
–IANS–
