President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered his Interior Ministry to look into the recent arrest of a young Christian girl accused of violating Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law by desecrating pages from the Koran.This is the 11-year old they're going to put on death row...
Eleven year old mentally retarded girl, according to other accounts. That detail is important in understanding exactly how vile a society Pakistan has become.
The case of Ramsha, an 11-year-old girl from an impoverished section of Islamabad, has again cast a spotlight on Pakistan's
(PTUI!)
The law is often exploited
If it was truly a law that was 'exploited', that would mean that the law originally had some different purpose. But that isn't the case: the primary, essential purpose of the law is to keep minorities in their place in the Islamic paradise. That's the point.
as a means to settle scores against adversaries or persecute minorities -- particularly Christians and Ahmadis, members of a Muslim sect viewed by most Pakistanis as traitors to Islam because they revere another prophet in addition to Muhammad.
It's also handy for indulging in a bit of gratuitous cruelty against resident infidels whether there's land or money involved or not. Lotsa good strokes for a certain kind of ego...
Ramsha, whose last name was not given by authorities, was accused of burning pages from the Koran on Thursday, though authorities are also investigating whether she was simply burning discarded papers she pulled from a trash bin as fuel for cooking,
In a modern society, we use electricity or natural gas for cooking...
according to a statement released by Zardari's office.
Y'gotta be real careful about burning garbage in Pakistain. There might be Korans in it. Better to let it just pile up and enjoy the pious smell of Islam...
News of Ramsha's alleged actions enraged neighbors, Who in Pakistain isn't waiting to fly into an uncontrollable rage at an instant's notice?
who attacked the girl's sister and mother
... who weren't the ones rooting through the garbage...
and set ablaze several Christian homes in the area,
... because the infidels were probably just waiting to flame up a few Korans...
the statement said. Several Christian families fled the neighborhood, fearing further violence.
"Quick, Mother! We must flee!"
"What the hell? Not again? It's only Tuesday!"
"Blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned, ... which is why they're eager to toss an 11-year-old girl into the slammer and burn her house down...
but no one will be allowed to misuse the blasphemy law for settling scores," said Zardari's spokesman, Farhatullah Babar.
"Certainly not! The blasphemy laws should be reserved as a means of tormenting infidels...
Pakistan's most infamous application of its blasphemy law came in 2010, when Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother, was sentenced to death for allegedly making disparaging remarks about the prophet Muhammad and the Koran.
You mean that the Koran's a self-contradictory mess? That the Rosicrucians make more sense than al-Azhar's Learned Elders of Islam? That Mohammad was an illiterate sociopath with a liking for little girls? That sorta thing?
Bibi has always denied the allegations and remains on death row.
Doesn't matter if she denies that charges. Doesn't matter of there was a camera on her the whole time that disproves the charges. If they let her off death row some Hero of Islam will be obliged to kill her. And if they leave her on death row chances are good some Hero of Islam will kill her. And her "last" name's not Bibi. Bibi means "woman" in Urdu...
In January 2011, Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province who criticized the blasphemy law and championed Bibi's case, was assassinated by one of his bodyguards.
Guilty or innocent, it doesn't matter. Try and speak up in favor of laws being applied equitably and you're taking your life into your hands.
That officer, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, said he killed Taseer because of Taseer's opposition to the blasphemy law. Qadri was convicted last October and awaits execution in a Pakistani prison.
Even though he's a Brelvi, which is next thing to being a heathen to the professionally pious, he's regarded as a hero and periodic demonstrations demanding he be freed.
Two months after Taseer's murder, gunmen assassinated Shahbaz Bhatti, the country's minority affairs minister and Pakistan's only Christian Cabinet member.
... but, really, it had nothing to do with Islam...
Like Taseer, Bhatti also had openly criticized the blasphemy law and the death sentence that Bibi had received.
In civilized countries government retains an at least theoretical monopoly on violence. If somebody needs bumped off that's the state's job, not somebody hanging around a street corner named Chaudry. Islam as a religion puts the obligation to violence on the individual. It's in the Koran. "Fiery" holy men like Qazi and Fazl and Sami and Mullah Fazlullah and likely hundreds of others drone on and on about it. But, honest, Islam is a religion of peace.