By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) - Christians in Pakistan’s Punjab province remained concerned Sunday after a Muslim mob reportedly tried to kill a Christian mother of two accused of blasphemy while also targeting her sister.
Saima Farhad Gill, a 32-year-old widow,was initially “saved by police” but soon detained under Pakistan’s “notorious” blasphemy laws, prompting Christian villagers to flee, Christians told Worthy News.
The mob in Kathore village in the Gojra area of Punjab’s Faisalabad District had tried to lynch her as a Muslim man named Muhammad Haider claimed she was “hurting” Islamic sentiments.
She allegedly committed “blasphemy” while he and two companions visited her home after Haider said he found pages of the Koran in a garbage bin.
“Documents bearing the name of Saima Farhad Gil’s daughter Emma, aged nine, was discovered between ripped pages of the Koran,” Haider reportedly said.
Haider alleged that Gil’s sister, Sonia Masih, put the trash into a bag and then disposed of it on August 6, Worthy News learned.
‘INAPPROPRIATE COMMENTS’
“The next day, Mohammad went to Sonia's home to further investigate the situation, taking two other community members with him. He alleged that Sonia's sister, Saima, had made some inappropriate religious comments to them during the visit, leading the Muslim men to contend that the two Christian sisters committed blasphemy,” said advocacy group Voice Of the Martyrs Canada (VOMC).
“Word of the accusations quickly spread throughout the village of Gojra. As a result, an angry mob attacked the Christians that same day, attempting to kill Saima,” VOMC told Worthy News.
“Other believers in the village were also forced to flee for their safety. The family's lawyer states that Saima would have been lynched if the police had not arrived in time,” VOMC added.
She has denied the accusations and says Mohammad had asked her sister “for an empty bag which she gave to him.”
It was this bag, the accuser claimed, that had contained pages of the Koran.
“The allegations are believed to derive from a personal vendetta against the women. Accusations of blasphemy are frequently used in Pakistan to settle personal and business disagreements,” VOMC noted.
URGING PRAYERS
“Unfortunately, these types of allegations often lead to crimes such as mob violence – and the resulting mass destruction of people's lives, properties and communities,” the group added.
Prominent Pakistan Catholic priest Father Bonnie Mendes said that the detained “Saima has had a hard life after losing her husband in a road accident in September 2019.”
However, “She continued with courage, giving her children education in a private school, a few kilometers (miles) from her home. Let us pray for her safety and for the safety of her two small children,” he said.
Pakistan, a strict Islamic nation, has come under international pressure to overturn tough blasphemy legislation that critics say contributed to tensions.
At least nearly 90 people, including Christians, have been killed since 1947 for blasphemy against Islam. Up to 80 people are known to be jailed in Pakistan on blasphemy charges — half of whom face life in prison or the death penalty — according to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Among prominent victims of such killings have been Christian Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti Punjab, Governor Salman Taseer, and high court justice Arif Iqbal Bhatti, who was slain in his chambers.
In December 2021, a Sri Lankan factory manager working in Pakistan was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.