BLASPHEMY ACCUSED DIES IN POLICE CUSTODY IN NORTHEAST

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 LAHORE 000196

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KIRF PK
SUBJECT: BLASPHEMY ACCUSED DIES IN POLICE CUSTODY IN NORTHEAST
PUNJAB


1. (SBU) Summary: A young Pakistani Christian man died in
police custody, three days after he was arrested and charged
with blasphemy. On September 11, 20-year-old Fanish Masih, an
illiterate sweeper, allegedly grabbed a copy of the Quran from a
teenage Muslim girl and threw it in the drain. Word of the
incident spread, and a mob of 100 people set fire to a church
and ransacked the houses of two Christians in Jaithikey village,
northeastern Punjab. Police arrested and charged Masih with
blasphemy on September 12. Three days later, police announced
that Masih had been found dead in his cell and claimed that he
had committed suicide. This was the third incident of mob
violence against Christians in Punjab Province since late July,
in revenge for alleged blasphemy, and stoked by Muslim clerics
during Friday prayers. End Summary.

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Angry Mob Torches Church
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2. (SBU) According to Katherine Karamat, Program Officer,
Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS),on
September 11 in Jaithikey village, Tehsil Sambrial, Sialkot
district, 20-year-old Christian Fanish Masih snatched a copy of
the Quran from 15-year-old Muslim Hina Ashgar as she left the
local mosque. Masih threw the Quran in the drain. Masih and
Ashgar had developed a friendship, defying cultural norms that
permit women only to interact with male relatives. Walking home
from the mosque, Ashgar stopped to talk to Masih. Her mother
spotted them and began yelling, causing Masih to run away and
Ashgar to drop the books she was holding, according to Karamat.
Ashgar's mother, angered by the relationship, shouted that Masih
had desecrated the Quran. Local Muslim leaders immediately
called for revenge from mosque loudspeakers and held rallies
after Friday prayers. Around midnight on September 11, a
100-member-strong mob burned a church and looted two adjacent
houses in Jaithikey village. The crowd, armed with bricks and
kerosene, torched the church and rallied in the streets, calling
for Masih's immediate arrest.

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Death of Accused in Police Custody
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3. (SBU) Sambrial police registered a First Information Report
(FIR) on behalf of Muhammad Ali Ashgar, Hina Ashgar's father,
against Masih charging him with desecration of the Holy Quran
under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. Sambrial police
arrested Masih on September 12. After an initial court date on
September 13, he was sent to District Jail in Sialkot on
September 14. On September 15, Masih was discovered dead in his
jail cell. Sialkot police claimed the boy hung himself from the
door of his solitary confinement cell with the drawstring from
his pants. This was a lie, according to Karamat, and Lawrence
Saldanha, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lahore. Both told Post
that there were signs of torture on Masih's body. Sialkot
police refused to release Masih's body to his parents for burial
in his native village of Jaithikey, approximately 12 miles away.
On September 17, Masih was laid to rest by family members amid
protests at a Christian graveyard in Sialkot. Protesters, who
had demanded Masih be buried in Jaithikey, clashed with police,
staged a sit-in, burned tires and attacked nearby shops.
Hundreds of Christians, including Christian Members of the
National Assembly Nelson Azeem and Akram Gill, and Kamran
Michael, Provincial Minister for Human Rights, Minorities
Affairs and Women Development, attended the memorial service.

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Action against Police, Calls for Change
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4. (SBU) On September 17, Sialkot Civil Lines police registered
a FIR against the Superintendent of the Sialkot district jail,
charging him with inflicting physical injury under Pakistan
Penal Code Section 319. On September 16 Federal Minister for
Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, ordered an inquiry into the death.
On September 17 Punjab Provincial Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif,
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N),appointed Sialkot District
and Sessions Judge Tariq Iftikar to conduct an inquiry into
Masih's death. Kamran Michael, Punjab Provincial Minister for
Human Rights, publically condemned the violence in Sialkot.

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Punjab Provincial Governor Salman Taseer, Pakistan Peoples
Party, called for the repeal of the blasphemy law on September

18. Religious parties have since accused Taseer of committing
blasphemy by seeking the law's repeal, and called for his
resignation. Chief Minister Sharif told Principal Officer that
PPP was too weak on religious issues to repeal the blasphemy
law. Only a change in administration, from PPP to PML-N, would
result in a party with enough support from the religious
community to institute a real change to the law.

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Blasphemy Law in Action in the Case at Hand
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5. (SBU) Masih, an illiterate sweeper, is a typical member of
the Pakistani Christian community. The majority of Christians
are uneducated laborers who comprise the lowest level of
Pakistani society. Social discrimination makes them
particularly vulnerable to blasphemy charges, and many do not
understand or trust the legal system. In the Masih case, a
mother who disapproved of her daughter's relationship with a
Christian man served as the sole witness to Masih's "blasphemy."
The girl's father, with only second-hand knowledge of the
incident, registered the FIR. Police investigated no further
and arrested Masih the next day. Had Masih lived to have his
day in court, his ignorance of the content of the book(s) he
allegedly pulled from the girl's hands would have been no
defense to the charge.

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Comment: The Need for Change
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6. (SBU) The blasphemy law as written is problematic, and
every new blasphemy incident illustrates its shortfalls. Punjab
Governor Taseer's call to repeal the blasphemy law and, the
Chief Minister's investigation of the incident are positive
signs. We will continue to express our concerns with provincial
leaders, expecting change to come but slowly. End Comment.
CONROY