A Christian man has been detained in Pakistan’s heartland Punjab province on allegations of blasphemy against Islam, shortly after a Christian couple was burned to death by a mob for allegedly insulting Muslims, BosNewsLife has learned.
Qaiser Ayub, 40, was captured last week and held at a police station in the town of Talagang in Punjab’s Chakwal District, rights activists confirmed.
He tried to hide for police for some three-and-a-half years, said Sardar Mushtaq Gill, national director of advocacy group Legal Evangelical Association Development (LEAD).
Despite possible arrest Ayub, who graduated in computer sciences, had been teaching recently at a school in Lahore, apparently triggering a police warrant, Gill said, adding that his group his providing legal assistance. “We also request prayer for him.”
Scores of people, many of them Christians, have been detained in Pakistan under the country’s strict blasphemy laws, which carry sentences of life in prison or the death penalty. Rights groups say the laws often are exploited for personal gain or to target the Christian minority.
Several Christians are known to have been killed while awaiting a verdict or for criticising the legislation, including Pakistan’s Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, in 2011.
Ayub’s detention in Punjab province came shortly after angry Muslims burned to death Christians Shahbaz Maseeh, 26, and his pregnant wife Shama Bibi, 24, for accidentally setting fire to several verses of the Koran.
The 4th November incident in Kot Radha Kishan town, some 64 kilometres southwest of Lahore, happened after their kiln factory manager claimed to have seen half torched Koranic pages between a heap of garbage, BosNewsLife learned.
“Police deliberately failed to save the couple because they were Christian. They claimed they were outnumbered by the mob,” Gill told BosNewsLife.
Police officials have said however they are investigating the attack and have detained several suspects.
Last week LEAD organized a protest march in Punjab demanding all suspects be brought to justice. Protesters including Catholic and Protestant church leaders, were seen chanting slogans and holding banners with slogans against blasphemy policies and “ongoing religious persecution” in the country.
“The couple was burned at the kiln furnace based on a false accusation of blasphemy,” complained Gill.
“The government must take immediate bold steps to repeal the blasphemy laws,” which he suggested created an atmosphere of hatred. “The government has absolutely failed to protect its citizens’ right to life and property,” the lawyer added.
“Christians in Pakistan are not safe as long as the current blasphemy laws exists. They are just misused to persecute them,” Gill said. “These laws are grave violation of human rights” and the “West should play a constructive and effective role” to pressure the government over the issue and hear the voice of Pakistani Christians.”
– with reporting by STEFAN J BOS.
