ASIA/PAKISTAN - No evidence against Rimsha; support on behalf of Muslim women

Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - After a week of further investigation, the Pakistani police have acknowledged that there is no evidence against Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl arrested for blasphemy and then released on bail. This is confirmed to Fides by the Catholic lawyer Kahalit Tahir Sindhu, a member of parliament in Punjab and an expert in cases of blasphemy. Investigators have confirmed the responsibilities and manipulative work carried out by Imam Mohammad Khalid Jadoon Chishti, currently in prison, who added burned pages of the Koran to those in the girl’s possession.
The Christian girl has received the full support of Muslim women in Pakistan. With regards to the story, Fides Agency has collected, in fact, the views of some Muslim representatives of society, politics and culture in Pakistan. Amna Ulfat, a member of parliament in Punjab, believes Rimsha is innocent because "she is a minor and illiterate" and, referring to the imam, condemns "those who commit such crimes, using the courts for personal interests." "I know that Christians respect the Koran as much as the Bible," she concludes.
Naveed Anjum, President of the "SAF Foundation for women", defines Rimsha’s arrest "inhuman" and calls for "the guilty to be punished severely." Faiza Malik, Member of Parliament and President of the section of the Punjab "Pakistan People's Party" tells Fides: "No one should be allowed to play with the laws of the country. To hurt a child mentally disabled is a shameful act. Her release and her innocence is a victory of justice."
Tahira Abdullah, a Muslim and human rights activist, highlights the obscure points of the story: "No child can be put in a prison for adults and held for three weeks with dangerous prisoners. What was done to Rimsha is illegal. In addition, the blasphemy law provides that police officers carry out investigations before the arrest and registration of a complaint: this was omitted." The activist asks for "Rimsha and her family to be placed under State protection, that the Christian suburb of Mehrabadi is helped by the state in order to be resettled in their homes." Pakistani Muslim women ask, finally, to reactivate the Parliamentary Committee for the revision of the blasphemy law. (PA-FN) (Agenzia Fides 24/09/2012)