The Station House Officer (SHO) of Police Station (Saddar) of Samandari in Faisalabad district has registered a blasphemy case against 55 Christians and three Muslims on the charges of desecration of a Muslim graveyard, despite there being no physical evidence or other support for the allegations.
In fact there is no proof of the Muslim graveyard ever having existed!
After a complaint was received from a local cleric in Chak No 306 of Samandari, who alleged that the Christian community had occupied a piece of land that had once been a graveyard the unnamed SHO, registered a criminal case under Pakistan’s ‘Blasphemy Laws’.
Chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association Wilson Chowdhry said; “This is yet another incident of a blasphemy charge being unfairly laid upon innocent victims, on the whim of an intolerant cleric.” It is obvious to me there was malicious intent as the fabricated story of desecration of a Muslim graveyard has been proven false.
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The land actually belongs to the state and the poor Christian population settled there in a shanty settlement.
Offended by the presence of Christians, a local Muslim cleric fomented unrest and division within the local community, by voicing concerns that the slum was constructed over a piece of land that once was a graveyard for Muslims.
There was serious tension in the area and eventually the SHO Police Station (Saddar) of Samandari lodged the FIR (First Information Report), implicating 55 Christians and three Muslims under the ‘Blasphemy Laws.’
The BPCA calls for the immediate removal of these false charges and calls on the authorities of Pakistan to settle this land dispute. We will be praying for a removal of the false Blasphemy charges from all these innocent victims.
Sindependent Judicial Commission can easily sort out the matter by looking through the land records if ever the land had been used as a ‘graveyard’ by Muslims or not. The PIL chairman urged an urgent response to this critical issue, which otherwise will hit the headlines internationally, bringing bad publicity for the country and the government.