Relatives who became Muslims try to force her to renounce Christian faith.
FORT ABBAS, Pakistan, March 12 (CDN) — 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 a
5-month-old girl and resident of the village Chak No. 170/7R Colony, in
the Fort Abbas area, under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s “blasphemy”
statutes after neighbors accused her of uttering remarks against
Muhammad. She was arrested on Feb. 28.
Speaking ill of
Muhammad in Pakistan is punishable by life imprisonment or death under
Pakistan’s internationally condemned blasphemy laws.
The
young woman’s brother, Ilyas Masih, and her brother-in-law, Shahbaz
Masih, told Compass that she had been wrongly accused because she had
resisted pressure to convert to Islam four days before her arrest.
“Nazeeran,
sister of Shamim’s husband Bashir Masih, and her nephew Nadeem and
niece Bella accepted Islam on Feb. 24 and called on her to do the same,”
Masih said. “She refused, telling them that she was satisfied with
Christianity and did not want to convert.”
He said the newly-converted Muslims persisted in trying to force her to convert, but she resisted.
“Shamim
told them that she had complete faith in a living God, and that there
was no reason for her to start ‘worshiping graves,’” Masih said.
That
remark was not the one deemed “blasphemous.” Rather, on Feb. 27 her
neighbors accused her of making derogatory remarks – as yet unknown – on
a separate occasion about Muhammad while in her courtyard.
Ansar
Ali Shah, a local prayer leader in Chak 170/7R Colony, claimed that
Shamim Bibi’s neighbors, Hamad Ahmed Hashmi and Abdul Qayyum, told him
and other Muslims that they had heard the Christian woman making
derogatory remarks about Muhammad in her courtyard, according to the
First Information Report (FIR No. 30/12) registered by the Khichiwala
police station. But there is no indication in the FIR of what, exactly,
Shamim Bibi was alleged to have said.
As word of the
allegation spread, a large crowd of villagers besieged her house and
demanded “severe punishment for the infidel,” claiming she had hurt
their religious sentiments, sources said.
Shahbaz Masih,
her brother-in-law, told Compass that Qayyum, one of the two men named
in the FIR as witnesses, has denied hearing anything from Shamim Bibi
that supports the charge.
“Qayyum told police that he
wasn’t even present in his house at the time of the alleged incident and
had come to know about it from Hamad, the other witness,” Shahbaz Masih
said.
Hamad Ahmed Hashmi, a motorized-rickshaw driver,
also was not present at his house at 3 p.m., the time of the alleged
remark, Shahbaz Masih said, based on information gathered from Shamim
Bibi’s neighborhood.
“Hamad transports schoolchildren and
could not have been in his house at the time of the incident, as it was
just after school closing hours,” he said.
Bahawalnagar
Superintendent of Police Investigation Irfan Ullah acknowledged that one
of the two witnesses had admitted to not being present at the alleged
“crime” scene at the time of the alleged remark.
“Qayyum
told us that he hadn’t witnessed the incident and his name had been
included in the FIR by the locals, but still that does not prove that
Shamim did not commit blasphemy,” Ullah told Compass by phone. “The
other witness is standing by his claim, and she has produced nothing so
far which can prove her innocence.”
He vehemently denied that police had caved in to pressure from local Muslims and had registered a case in undue haste.
“I
visited the village twice, and so far nothing has come up that suggests
that the people have accused Shamim wrongly,” Ullah said. “We
registered a case against her on the directions of the district police
officer.”
Bahawalnagar District Police Officer Salman Ali Khan could not be reached for comment.
Shamim
Bibi’s family and her infant daughter, meantime, may have to wait for a
long time for her return. While no one has been executed for blasphemy
in Pakistan, most are freed on appeal after suffering for years under
appalling prison conditions.
Vigilantes have killed at least 10 people accused of blasphemy, rights groups estimate.
Section
295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy law states: “Whoever by words, either
spoken or written or by visible representation, or by any imputation,
innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred
name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) shall be punished with death,
or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”
END
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