Continued accusations of blasphemy in a small village in Pakistan have led to violent assaults and imprisonment of Christians.
In January 2024, a complaint filed with police in the town of Kharota Syedan was triggered by the discovery of two 10-rupee notes in a grocery cart at the village market that contained blasphemous words against Islam and the Quran.
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The report stated the act deeply hurt the religious sentiments of local Muslims. They demanded authorities find and punish the culprits as stated in the law, which prescribes the death penalty for blasphemy.
Local clerics and radicals began partnering with law enforcement to suggest suspects based on religious and political affiliations. All identified were part of the vulnerable Christian population.
One week after the report was filed, Christian brothers and factory workers Nadeem and Azam Masih were identified by a local mosque cleric. The cleric and a group of radicals then apprehended the brothers for two days, assaulting them with iron rods that left their backs covered in marks. The mob attempted to convert them to Islam and abandon Christianity. When they refused, the brothers were severely beaten and thrown onto the street.
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“During their abduction, Nadeem and Azam were forced to recite the Islamic statement of faith after their Muslim abductors, who believe that just reciting certain Arabic words of the Quran converts one to Islam,” said local church pastor Arshad Masih.
Masih said the Catholic Church in the area pushed for an investigation into the incident which revealed the blasphemy accusations were completely baseless and stemmed from a personal vendetta.
“After these allegations were disproven, the clerics who made the accusations, along with another radical partner, were arrested for a short time,” he said.
The Christian community, which numbers around 1,000 in the area, decided not to escalate the conflict. Christian clergy organized an informal dispute resolution meeting at a local church. Religious leaders from both the Muslim and Christian communities attended, and the issue was resolved through a reluctant reconciliation between the groups. The clerics who falsely accused the brothers were released from jail after the resolution.
“Due to low social influence and the vulnerable families, they chose to resolve the issue quietly for the safety of the rest of the community and their families,” Masih said.
Following the incident, the brothers left the area and are now living in a safe house provided by a church.
Christian mother arrested for the same charges
In April, Christian mother Stella Bibi, was accused of the blasphemy written on the 10-rupee notes and arrested.
Adeel Daniel, a member of Sialkot Peace Committee, an interfaith harmony group, has been closely monitoring Ms. Bibi’s case. Despite the efforts of local authorities to control the situation in Kharota Syedan after the assaults on the Masih brothers, he said similar incidents have continued, such as the discovery of papers and notes containing blasphemous content. Law enforcement officials characterized the incidents as part of a conspiracy aimed at sparking conflict between religious groups.
Mr. Daniel said that Ms. Bibi was also arrested in February on identical blasphemy allegations. After a thorough interrogation, she was released by police due to lack of evidence. She was re-arrested in April after her accuser claimed to have witnessed her committing blasphemy on CCTV footage.
Mr. Daniel argues that if there is indeed evidence against Ms. Bibi, she would not have been previously released.
“If there is proof against her on video, then this video must be released, analyzed, and presented to all involved in the case,” he said.
However, on May 22, Ms. Bibi was arrested for a third time on blasphemy charges and is still being held in jail.
Mr. Daniel said these blasphemy allegations have affected the hundreds of Christian families in the village.
“They are constantly anxious about being falsely accused of blasphemy, as such accusations can have life-threatening consequences.”
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James Jacob is a writer for Global Christian Relief (GCR), America’s leading watchdog organization focused on the plight of persecuted Christians worldwide. In addition to equipping the Western church to advocate and pray for the persecuted, GCR works in the most restrictive countries to protect and encourage Christians threatened by faith-based discrimination and violence.