PUNJAB, Pakistan — Muslims in Pakistan have told 300 impoverished villagers they must either produce a Christian accused of blasphemy, leave the area, convert to Islam or be killed, sources said.
Imran Masih, a 28-year-old resident of a village in Punjab Province’s Mandi Bahauddin District, was accused April 19 of keeping a “blasphemous” video clip on his cell phone.
Tensions flared after a local Islamist outfit issued a “Fatwa,” or Islamic edict, against Masih and sanctioned his killing. Masih, a sweeper at a rural health center in nearby Bosaal, and his family have since fled the village. Some 44 Christian families are now left at the mercy of the 2,000-plus Muslim population, which has imposed a social boycott on the community after police thwarted an attempt to burn down their homes May 6.
While Masih’s family, still in the village, was told to produce him before the committee, a local Muslim businessman announced a $9,500 bounty on Masih’s head, dead or alive.
One of the mosque committee members, Riaz Ahmed Dhadhra, had proposed burning down area Christians’ homes if they did not hand Masih over to them.
(MS)
Share with others: