Christian in Pakistan Charged With Blasphemy for Bible Post

“When we learned that people from at least two or three villages had started gathering, we ran to save our lives,” he told Morning Star News. “We couldn’t take our parents along because of their medical condition, so my two sisters-in-law volunteered to stay back and look after their needs. It’s a shame that the police detained them despite knowing that they have infant children.”

Haroon Shahzad on Monday [July 3] was able to secure pre-arrest bail through the efforts of attorney Aneeqa Maria of The Voice Society. She said Shahzad would cooperate with the investigation, but police on Tuesday (July 4) took him into “protective custody” despite the securing of the pre-arrest bail.

Maria said she hoped to obtain permanent bail for Shahzad at the next hearing on May 11.

“We are very hopeful that Haroon will get permanent bail, as Section 298 is a bailable offense,” Maria said.

She said he is also eligible for bail on merit, as a private citizen had illegally invoked Section 295-A, whereas only the provincial government and federal agencies can register an FIR under Section 295-A, according to Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

Maria said she also had filed an application on behalf of Shahzad seeking legal action against the complainant, Muhammad Imran Ullah, under Section 7 of the Anti-Terror Act for allegedly endangering the lives of the accused, his family members, and other Christians by instigating the masses through false propaganda of blasphemy.

She said police had released his brother and the other two youths after his decision to cooperate with the investigation.

The blasphemy charge against Shahzad stems from personal grudges against him by the complainant, Ullah, sources said. Chaudhry said Ullah had engaged in legal battles with Shahzad over a piece of land allotted by the government for constructing a church building.

The two-kanal (one kanal equals one-eighth of an acre) plot was allotted in the name of Shahzad’s father, Younis Shahzad, who was a member of the local Presbyterian church, Chaudhry said, adding that the land was prized since the village is in the suburbs of Sargodha.

“Because of the land’s value, Imran and some others resorted to repeated court injunctions to stop the Christians from building their church,” he said. “The stay orders were finally removed last year after a four-year legal battle, and the complainant nurtured a grudge due to this.”

Irfan Shahzad corroborated Chaudhry’s information, saying there were many Presbyterian families in the village, and they did not have a church building for worship.

“My father obtained the allotment from the deputy commissioner by following the legal process,” he said. “Those opposed to this allotment should have questioned the officer, but they started harassing us through cases.”

Ullah and Shahzad were also at odds because Ullah, a Muslim, had married a Christian woman, and area Muslims also resented Shahzad because he had the financial standing, as a paint contractor, to fight for rights when local issues arose, according to Chaudhry.

Chaudhry expressed fears of an escalation in area tensions as TLP workers were sharing Shahzad’s photo on social media, declaring him a blasphemer deserving punishment.

The biblical passage from 1 Corinthians that Shahzad posted reads, “Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?  What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?  No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.”

Pakistan ranked seventh on Open Doors’ 2023 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian, up from eighth the previous year.

If you would like to help persecuted Christians, visit https://morningstarnews.org/resources/aid-agencies/ for a list of organizations that can orient you on how to get involved.  

If you or your organization would like to help enable Morning Star News to continue raising awareness of persecuted Christians worldwide with original-content reporting, please consider collaborating at https://morningstarnews.org/donate/?

This article originally appeared here.