ICC Note:

Last month, a Christian woman in Gujrat, Pakistan stood her ground when falsely accused of blasphemy in Pakistan. Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are often misused to settle scores, for personal gain, or to incite hatred against religious minority communities. In this case, a Muslim neighbor accused the Christian because of an inter-faith relationship that had taken place between the Christian and Muslim families, something that remains taboo in Pakistan. Police investigated the matter and found that the accusations against the Christian were false. Now, will the false accuser be confronted for her crime?

6/3/2016 India (Christian Today) – A Christian woman accused of blasphemy has asserted her innocence and declined to leave her home in the Christian Town settlement near Gujrat, Pakistan to protect her neighbors from becoming targets of a mob.

“If I flee, what would happen to my Christian neighbors and their houses?” 23-year-old Sonia Gill said, reports Charisma News.

The accusations against Gill were eventually withdrawn, adds the report.

The accusations stemmed from a complaint by Gill’s neighbor, Sharjila Komal, known as “Poma,” who claimed that Gill has been using an advertising banner bearing the name of Prophet Muhammad as a floor covering.

But Gill said the banners bore only the names of politicians and that her neighbor had another motive for the accusation.

She said Poma had a grudge against her family after Gill’s sister-in-law eloped with Poma’s cousin, Khalid. But she added that the matter was settled after the woman returned.

Apparently, Poma saw the banner after she went to Gill’s place last May 16 to inform her that her niece’s uniform had been stitched and could be picked up anytime, according to the report.

By the evening, an angry mob of 70 people led by Muslim cleric Khubaib Jalali stormed Gill’s place.

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