On 15 April 2023, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against two people working in the Government girls’ higher secondary school, EB 66, Arifwala, Punjab.
According to the first information report (FIR), sub-inspector police, Abid Hussain received a call from Kashif Nadeem, who informed him that two people working in the school had desecrated the Holy Quran.
When he reached the school there were already several people gathered around.
He said that when he reached the principal’s office, the principal Nasreen Saeed, an education officer and some other people were already investigating Musarrat Bibi, who was working as a Naib-qasid and Mohammad Sarmad, a gardener. They had both been asked to clean a store room. During the cleaning, they gathered all the rubbish (Paper etc) and later burnt them.
Since they are both illiterate therefore they didn’t know what kind of paper they were burning, and there were some Qurans page in that rubbish.
After taking a statement from the witnesses, the police have registered a case under section 295- B of the blasphemy law against Musarrat Bibi and Mohammad Sarmad and taken them into custody at Police Station Sadar Arifwala Park Pandan.
Lucas Bhatti, human rights activist, Napoleon Qayyum, Executive Director PCLJ and the Rt Revd Abraham Azeem Daniel, Bishop of the Baptist Church Pakistan Nasir Saeed, expressed their concern over the continued misuse of the blasphemy law in Pakistan and said this is only because of the lack of interest from the Pakistani government.
Bishop Daniel said, they are completely innocent as both didn’t know what they were doing, they were just doing the work they were asked.
“This is completely unfair and unjust. Such people who don’t how to read and write are given such a job and then they are charged with blasphemy. It is the misuse of the blasphemy law and it has to be stopped.
