Pakistan govt to keep 11yo Christian girl in jail 'for own safety'

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Published time: August 26, 2012 13:21
Edited time: August 26, 2012 17:24

Members of the Action Committee for Human Rights chant slogans in the support of Rimsha Masih (AFP Photo / Rizwan Tabassum)

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Conflict, Crime, Hate crimes, Human rights, Law, Pakistan, Politics, Protest, Religion, Scandal

Pakistani police blocked a bail request for the minor who reportedly suffers from Down’s syndrome, claiming her release would endanger her life and that of her family. The girl is accused of blasphemy for allegedly burning a Koran.

The detention of Rimsha Masih has sparked outrage and divided Pakistani society. Christian rights groups have demanded her release along with amendments to the penal code, while enraged Muslims call for the girl to be burned alive.

The Pakistani Interior Ministry has reportedly asked the Islamabad police to reject Rimsha’s bail request on the basis that there was a serious threat to the girl’s life and the lives of her family.

Her family members are thought to have been taken into protective custody.

An interior ministry official speaking on condition of anonymity told BBC Urdu that Rimsha would be safer in custody until the matter has been resolved and the public has “cooled down.” He added that the situation could easily spiral out of control if rushed.

In spite of reports that the girl was so traumatized she could barely speak, Islamabad police sent a preliminary report to the Interior Ministry saying the girl had admitted to burning the sacred book. A medical board had also been set up to ascertain the state of Rimsha’s mental health.

The All Pakistan Christian League held a protest in Karachi on Saturday, calling for police to drop the charges of blasphemy set against the 11-year-old and the launching of a judicial inquiry into why a minor with mental impairments was arrested in the first place.

They also called for the amendments to the penal code, chanting “Stop killing innocent people in the name of blasphemy”, “Abolish the blasphemy law” and “Talibanization not acceptable”.

The controversial case has highlighted long-standing protests over the country’s blasphemy laws, under which a person can be jailed for life for an infraction.

The girl is reportedly suffering trauma in custody and has been unable to say much to the police.

Rimsha Masih was taken into custody last week in the Christian area of Islamabad after an enraged crowd demanded that she be punished.

It is unclear whether or not she actually burnt pages of the Koran, given that some reports say that she was just found with pages of the holy book in her bag.

Several Christian families fled the neighborhood as a result of the unrest.

Tensions have escalated drastically recently between Muslims and Christian in Pakistan. Two days ago the body of an 11-year-old Christian boy was discovered in Punjab. The boy’s lips and nose had been sliced off and his body showed evidence of being burned.

An investigation is now underway to find out whether accusations of blasphemy had been made against the boy.

Comments (40)

Mohamed Al Hashimi 28.08.2012 14:37

You can check by Opinion Business Research in London about how many people were killed officially in 2007 only also what behind this number is more !

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LevelHeadedBloke 28.08.2012 12:32

@ No Sympathy for Muslims (unregistered)

So lets see how 'level-headed' your arguments are: :)

1. Right off from your adopted name, one can see you have an open hatred towards muslims and you spend considerable time and effort on trying to further spread this hatred. Not a very level-headed endeavour, won't you say?

2. Ironically, I am an atheist and yet I do not find it acceptable to spread hatred towards any religious group, be it muslims, christians or jews. Your blind hatred is just shameful.

3. Now to the basic surmise of my earlier posting... IF a highly trained professional psy-ops agent manipulates an illetrate poor country-boy into killing someone, who should rightfully be blamed? The manipulator or the manipulated? According to your logic,the poor manipulated boy should be hanged to death while the psy-ops operative walks free smiling. Somehow, does'nt sound right to me.

4. And how did you conclude I was defending religious fundamentalists? Just to be clear, I hate fundamentalists, be they Pakistani, American or British.

5. Why you assume I migrated to UK? I wouldn't waste my life in a morally and intellectually bankrupt society like the UK or USA even if someone gives me a million yuan for it. This is the century of India and China... ;)

6. What is happening in Pakistan today is apalling. But that is precisely why we CAN NOT and MUST NOT forget who turned the whole Pakistani society into this caricature of itself? The Pakistan in which I was born and grew up did not look anything like this. We grew up reading Carl Sagan, Arthur C. Clarke and Tolstoy. We had music concerts and we loved to dance and party just like any teenagers. There were MANY christians and hindus and parsiis among my personal friends. There was NEVER even a suggestion of religious hatred.

What you are seeing today is the direct outcome of what the USA/CIA did to Pakistan for their own selfish reasons. Simple as that.

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No Sympathy for Muslims (unregistered) 27.08.2012 16:30

@ Mohamed Al Hashimi - As liars do, you are changing your story

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