ICC Note:

Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws continue to be widely abused and are the root of many cases of Christian persecution in Pakistan. Last week, a Christian was again falsely accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. This time, a moderate Muslim human rights activist stepped in and saved the Christian from the false blasphemy charge. In many cases, a false blasphemy charge leveled against a Christian precipitates communal violence against the Christian and sometimes entire Christian communities. The intervention of this Muslim right activist was nothing short of heroic. 

3/27/2014 Pakistan (Asia News) – A “success” story with a happy ending thanks to the intervention of “a Muslim activist, who saved the life of an innocent young Christian” who “is not even able to read”. This is what Suneel Malik, Director of Peace and Human Development Foundation (Phd ) tells AsiaNews, commenting on the latest case of false blasphemy charges that occurred in recent days in Faisalabad in Punjab. He hopes it will help an increase in the “level of tolerance towards religious minorities”, for the construction of a true peace in Pakistan and to put an end “to false accusations that besmirch the name of the country” and affect “social harmony.”

The episode date back to 22 May: Mansha Masih, is a Christian, who has worked for 15 years as a scavenger in the town of Hajweri, Faisalabad. He was picking up litter and leaves from abandoned houses in the area, when a young Muslim named Billu, from the roof of his home, accused him of desecrating pages of the Muslim holy book, the Koran. After having railed against the Christian, he began to brutally beat him.

However, the intervention of the 26-year old Muslim activist Farhan Sadiq, a journalist and member of the Human Rights Defenders Network, was decisive in saving the Christian. He ripped Masih from the hands of his tormentor and took him home. He then launched an independent investigation to verify the facts, after which it was found that the pages containing sacred verses were “desecrated” by two underage students in the area, who did not want to go to the local mosque and so they burned the books.

However, rumors of a possible case of blasphemy perpetrated by a Christian had already circulated in the town and a crowd was ready to punish the man, though innocent, with death. Even after the confession of two young men, the crowd did not want to believe the innocence of Mansha Masih, who has repeatedly stated he is “illiterate” and “had done nothing wrong,” not knowing the content of the verses printed on sheets. The Muslim activist’s decision in dealing with crowd and proving the charges to be false, in the end, saved the Christian’s life, thus he fulfilled his task “with a great sense of responsibility.”

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