Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Sheikhpura (Agenzia Fides) - The aim was to find and kill Amanat Masih, a Christian falsely accused of blasphemy, who was arrested but then released by a court that verified the falsity of the allegations. For this reason a group of Islamic fundamentalist militants, led by an imam, kidnapped Shahzad Masih, 23 years old, Amanat Masih’s son and his wife Rukhsana Bibi, 20 years old. They were kidnapped on October 26 in their native village, Farooqabad, near Sheikhpura, in the province of Punjab. They were beaten and forced to recite Islamic prayers, under death threat. They were held hostage for 10 days, so that Amanat Masih could come out in the open and hand himself over in exchange for the freedom of the young couple. Amanat Masih, in fact - arrested on the basis of the blasphemy law in 2007, but acquitted by the Court of Appeal - lives in hiding for the safety of his life.
Everything, reported to Fides by the NGO "World Vision in Progress", which reported the case, took place under the cover of influential Muslim politicians in the "Pakistan Muslim League - N", a party that is present in the national parliament and that is in the government in the populous Punjab province.
The loudspeakers of the mosque in Farooqabad even officially announced that "Shahzad Masih and Rukhsana Bibi embraced Islam and abandoned the Christian faith". The trap was ready to lure Amanat and carry out yet another extra-judicial murder of a Christian considered "blasphemous". Only the prompt intervention of the police authorities on behalf of the NGO "World Vision in Progress", which already offered protection to Amanat, avoided more bloodshed and allowed - in one of the rare cases concluded successfully - the release of the young couple, who are now in a safe place .
According to "World Vision in Progress", 24 cases of forced conversion of Christian women to Islam were recorded in the last 3 months in Punjab. 96% of the cases of blasphemy occur in the province of Punjab - adds the NGO - and most false accusers go unpunished. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 04/11/2011)
