Tag: Pakistan

Bhatti murder case in Pakistan increasingly murky

May 25, 2012 Pakistan Asia Bibi, Minorities, Pakistan, Paul Bhatti, Punjab, Rawalpindi, Salmaan Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti, Taliban

The investigation into the murder of Pakistan’s only cabinet-level Christian, Shahbaz Bhatti, has become mired amid suspicions of a possible cover-up, sources said. Lax investigations, a series of freed suspects and lack of coordination across law enforcement organizations have stalled the case following the March 2, 2011 slaying of the . . . Read More

Pakistani Christian accused of ‘blasphemy’ after billiards dispute

May 22, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Farooqabad, Pakistan, Punjab, Quran, Sheikhupura

Police in Pakistan have charged a young Christian man with “blasphemy” after he had an argument with Muslims over a billiards game in Punjab Province’s Sheikhupura district, his cousin said. Farooqabad Police arrested Sajid Inayat, 20, on Friday (May 18) and charged him with desecrating the Quran under the country’s . . . Read More

Pakistani Muslims rape girl, beat relatives for prosecuting

May 21, 2012 Pakistan Narowal, Pakistan, Rape, Women

A band of Muslims this month severely beat a pregnant Christian woman in Punjab’s Narowal district – causing her to lose female twins to miscarriage – in an effort to pressure her family into dropping charges of raping her 13-year-old niece, the woman’s husband said. Asher Masih of Dhamala village . . . Read More

Life sentences for ‘blasphemy’ in Pakistan overturned

May 18, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Kasur, Lahore, Pakistan, Quran, Sahiwal

A court acquitted a Christian couple of “blasphemy” charges yesterday, overturning their life sentences, their lawyer said. Chaudhry Naeem Shakir told World Watch Monitor that Justice Mazhar Ali Akbar Naqvi of the Lahore High Court accepted the couple’s appeal because prosecutors failed to prove allegations that 32-year-old Munir Masih and . . . Read More

Injured convert in Pakistan tries to rebuild life

May 15, 2012 Pakistan Barelvi, Converts, Divorce, Faisalabad, Karachi, Pakistan

Muhammad Kamran isn’t sure who sent the men to beat him after his Muslim wife told both her family and his that he had become a Christian. The 34-year-old native of Karachi said his wife’s brothers had begun coming to his office to threaten him before unidentified assailants attacked him . . . Read More

Christian acquitted of ‘blasphemy’ charge in Pakistan

April 17, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Madrassas, Multan, Pakistan, Punjab

A Pakistani Christian falsely charged with “blasphemy” after rescuing his 8-year-old nephew from a beating at the hands of Muslim boys has been cleared of the charge. Dildar Masih, a 27-year-old father of two young children, was acquitted on March 26 after prosecutors failed to produce any evidence against him, . . . Read More

Woman accused of ‘blasphemy’ illegally held in jail

April 10, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Women

The mother of a 6-month-old girl has been wrongly jailed for more than a month, as Pakistani authorities have failed to file a charge sheet within the mandatory 14-day period against the young Christian woman falsely accused of “blaspheming” the prophet of Islam, her attorney said. Shamim Bibi, 26, of . . . Read More

Pakistani woman charged with ‘blasphemy’ for refusing Islam

March 12, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Pakistan, Prophet Muhammad, Punjab, Women

A young mother has been falsely accused of “blaspheming” Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, because she rebuffed attempts by relatives who had converted to Islam to force her to renounce her Christian faith, family members said. Police in Khichiwala, Bahawalnagar district, in Punjab Province, charged 26-year-old Shamim Bibi, mother of . . . Read More

Two Christian hospital workers abducted in Karachi, Pakistan

March 7, 2012 Pakistan Islamic extremism, Karachi, Kidnapping, Pakistan, Proselytism, Sindh, Taliban

Authorities do not know who abducted two Christian hospital employees in Karachi last week, but police sources said they suspected the kidnappers had links with banned terrorist organisations. There is a strong possibility that Islamic extremists took the two workers of South Korea-based Good Samaritan Hospital, Issac Samson and Indrias . . . Read More

Christian woman in Pakistan freed after ‘blasphemy’ accusation

March 1, 2012 Pakistan Blasphemy, Lahore, Pakistan, Quran

In a rare triumph of rule of law over mob mentality in Pakistan, police last week resisted intense pressure from violent Muslim protestors and released without charges a Christian woman falsely accused of desecrating the Quran. Muslim teachers at City Foundation School in Roranwala village, in the suburbs of Lahore, . . . Read More

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