“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.
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.
