Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Abbottabad (Agenzia Fides) – Due to an error of pronunciation during a school exam, a-13-year old Christian girl has been accused of "blasphemy". A trivial mistake in urdu becomes an excuse to attack a girl, a family, a community. This is what happened in the village of Havelian near Abbottabad (province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the northwest of the country). As reported to Fides by the "Masihi Foundation" - the organization that is responsible for defending the rights of Christians in Pakistan, including Asia Bibi - the story is absurd: Faryal Bhatti, 13 years of age, an eighth class student at High School, during a school exam with the Muslim professor Fareeda Bibi she incorrectly said "naat" (poetry of praise), to the prophet Mohammed, changing it into "laanat" (meaning "curse"). "This is a common mistake for children, because in writing the terms are very similar", the "Masihi Foundation explains to Fides". The inflexible teacher, however, called the school authorities. The school’s headmaster, Asif Siddiqui, expelled the girl and called the local Muslim religious leaders, who filed a First Information Report for blasphemy to the police against the girl and her family. This was followed by public protests against Christians. The girl is traumatized and, for fear of retaliation, the family was forced to leave their home and to move elsewhere.
The "Masihi Foudation" intervened by summoning two Islamic scholars and lawyers in Islamabad, Maulana Mehfooz Ali Khan and Hussain Ahmed Malik, who visited the place, met the girl, the school authorities and the police, explaining the apparent misunderstanding and that Faryal had no intention of committing blasphemy.
Another story of suffering for Christians is recorded in Kasur in Punjab: the local Catholic priest, Father Baharat, told Fides that a Catholic girl, Salma Masih (fantasy name ndr), was kidnapped and kept segregated for a month by a Muslim man. She managed to escape and returned home, her family asked the local parish priest for help and the "Justice and Peace" Commission for protection and justice. Today the young girl is forced to live in hiding. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 27/09/2011)
