LAHORE, Pakistan — A sibling squabble ended with one Christian falsely charged with blasphemy, while the act of stepping from a rickshaw netted a blasphemy charge for another person.
Police arrested Chand Shamaun on June 23 in the Christian Colony area of Pakistan’s Punjab province on a charge of desecrating the Quran. The arrest came after he and his two siblings argued about his share of ancestral property. The news services Christian Daily International and Morning Star News, quoting a source, report that Shamaun not only was charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes but also its anti-terrorism act.
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Christians flee area
The arrest caused some Christians in the area to flee for fear that Islamists would protest.
In a separate situation, rickshaw driver Dennis Albert has been jailed since April 27 on charges under two blasphemy statutes, the news services state.
A passerby claimed to have seen Albert standing barefoot on pages of the Quran at a roadside in Lahore, where Albert had left one passenger and was awaiting another, a source said.
One of the charges against Albert, a Catholic, carries a mandatory life sentence.
Pakistan is No. 7 on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of places most difficult to be a Christian.
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