Conflicting reports have emerged over Christian-Muslim tensions in a remote village in Punjab after a Christian was accused of blasphemy. Police deny any conflict in Chak-44 near the town of Mandi Bahauddin and so do several Muslims from the area, who refute recent reports that Christians of the village had been told to convert to Islam or leave the village. But a small police contingent has permanently been deployed to the village.
A quarrel was reported between 30-year-old Imran Masih, a Christian resident of Chak 44, and his fellow Muslims. The village has about 35 Christian families who are mostly farmhands or work as Atharhi, a type of serfdom in which a meager advance payment is made to permanently bind a person to work.
One reported reason behind the argument was a video shared on the internet by one Semie Samson, a Pakistani who lives in the US and posts controversial videos in the Urdu language on YouTube. Some locals say Imran had an affair with a Muslim widow, and that angered Muslims at his workplace.
The alleged quarrel, which was religious in nature, took place on April 19, but the situation in the village became tense on May 6, after the Friday prayer.
Mandi Bahauddin District Police Officer Raja Basharat said police was deployed to the village on May 6 when an emergency call was made by Christians in the area, asking for security. Amir Yaqoob, a Christian resident of the village, said he had made the call after a Muslim resident of the area, Dr Ashraf Faizi, warned him of a likely situation – he had heard Muslims in the village mosque discussing attacking Christians.
“After the Friday prayers, the local mosque committee was discussing an alleged blasphemy by Imran Masih,” Amir said. “Dr Faizi tried to tell them that no such thing had happened, but he was beaten up by the committee members and thrown out of the mosque. He came straight to me and told me to leave the village because they were planning to burn down the houses of Christians.”
But according to Raja Basharat, Dr Faizi had spread a rumor. The atmosphere had become tense then, the police officer said, but it had now normalized. “They are living peacefully as friends.”
According to the general secretary of the mosque committee and the elected vice chairman of the local council, Naseer Ahmed Saleem Bhatti, there were about 400 people had gathered at the mosque for the prayer when one Hafiz Imran Kasai (a butcher by caste) made an inciting speech. “I arrived at the mosque slightly late, but I stopped him from delivering that speech. I told him that the committee would decide what should be done,” he said. “But while the Friday prayer was going on, Dr Faizi spoke some inciting words too, after which he was sent out of the mosque.”
Imran Masih was a sweeper at the Bosal Rural Health Unit near his village. “On April 19, he asked his senior to take care of his mobile phone until he finished his work. When Imran came back, they were watching an objectionable video,” said Amir Yaqoob. “Muhammad Bilal, who runs a pharmacy, attacked him.”
Imran told them he had nothing to do with the video, and smashed the phone in front of them. “The matter was temporarily settled, but Bilal went all the way to Sargodha to obtain a fatwa against Imran, which is why he fled from the village only three days after the incident,” Amir said.
Naseer Bhatti said he and the rest of the committee met four people before the police intervention on May 6, including Imran’s senior and Bilal, who claimed they had seen an objectionable video in which a pastor was committing blasphemy. “Bilal had punched Imran and the phone fell down and was smashed, so there is no evidence,” he said.
The district police officer said there was no fatwa against Imran and no application for the registration of a blasphemy case.
“The mosque committee was deliberating on whether they should get an edict against Imran or hand him over to the police, but the police made a timely intervention and settled the matter through negotiations,” according to District Coordination Officer Muzaffar Khan Sial. “I have visited the village to make sure Christians have no security issues. Some of them may have fled in the beginning, but they are all back now. Only Imran Masih and his father Sharif Masih have not returned to the village.”
Nasir Iqbal Bosal, member of the National Assembly from Mandi Bahauddin who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said he was “very vigilant”. He too praised the police for its timely action, but added, “We never know when one black sheep can take advantage of the situation.”
“Peace has been restored in the village after police intervened,” said Amir Yaqoob. “Those who were threatening us now want to live in peace.”
But although there are no immediate threats, Christians fear they will face consequences for long, especially when it comes to their livelihoods. Many of them work under the Atharhi or Seipi system, under which poor untouchable castes have been historically forced into degrading occupations and bonded labor. A Christian couple that was burned alive in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan in 2014 could not leave their jobs because of the same system.
“Although most Christians have returned to their houses, only those Christians are being hired for labor who have had been given an advance payment. Despite the wheat harvest season, Christians are not being hired for regular labor,” according to 25-year-old Asif Ishaq. “We are dependent on Muslim landlords for our livelihoods.”
Christians and Muslims both denied a newspaper report that Christians’ houses and property were the primary motive behind the unrest. “These houses were allotted to the Christian community during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s times, and they are the owners of the property,” said Naseer Bhatti. “They are also not at a ‘prime location’.”
The district police officer said two committees had been constituted to bring the communities closer together, and anyone inciting hatred against Christians will be arrested in line with the National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism.
A quarrel was reported between 30-year-old Imran Masih, a Christian resident of Chak 44, and his fellow Muslims. The village has about 35 Christian families who are mostly farmhands or work as Atharhi, a type of serfdom in which a meager advance payment is made to permanently bind a person to work.
One reported reason behind the argument was a video shared on the internet by one Semie Samson, a Pakistani who lives in the US and posts controversial videos in the Urdu language on YouTube. Some locals say Imran had an affair with a Muslim widow, and that angered Muslims at his workplace.
The alleged quarrel, which was religious in nature, took place on April 19, but the situation in the village became tense on May 6, after the Friday prayer.
Mandi Bahauddin District Police Officer Raja Basharat said police was deployed to the village on May 6 when an emergency call was made by Christians in the area, asking for security. Amir Yaqoob, a Christian resident of the village, said he had made the call after a Muslim resident of the area, Dr Ashraf Faizi, warned him of a likely situation – he had heard Muslims in the village mosque discussing attacking Christians.
“After the Friday prayers, the local mosque committee was discussing an alleged blasphemy by Imran Masih,” Amir said. “Dr Faizi tried to tell them that no such thing had happened, but he was beaten up by the committee members and thrown out of the mosque. He came straight to me and told me to leave the village because they were planning to burn down the houses of Christians.”
But according to Raja Basharat, Dr Faizi had spread a rumor. The atmosphere had become tense then, the police officer said, but it had now normalized. “They are living peacefully as friends.”
According to the general secretary of the mosque committee and the elected vice chairman of the local council, Naseer Ahmed Saleem Bhatti, there were about 400 people had gathered at the mosque for the prayer when one Hafiz Imran Kasai (a butcher by caste) made an inciting speech. “I arrived at the mosque slightly late, but I stopped him from delivering that speech. I told him that the committee would decide what should be done,” he said. “But while the Friday prayer was going on, Dr Faizi spoke some inciting words too, after which he was sent out of the mosque.”
Imran Masih was a sweeper at the Bosal Rural Health Unit near his village. “On April 19, he asked his senior to take care of his mobile phone until he finished his work. When Imran came back, they were watching an objectionable video,” said Amir Yaqoob. “Muhammad Bilal, who runs a pharmacy, attacked him.”
Imran told them he had nothing to do with the video, and smashed the phone in front of them. “The matter was temporarily settled, but Bilal went all the way to Sargodha to obtain a fatwa against Imran, which is why he fled from the village only three days after the incident,” Amir said.
Naseer Bhatti said he and the rest of the committee met four people before the police intervention on May 6, including Imran’s senior and Bilal, who claimed they had seen an objectionable video in which a pastor was committing blasphemy. “Bilal had punched Imran and the phone fell down and was smashed, so there is no evidence,” he said.
The district police officer said there was no fatwa against Imran and no application for the registration of a blasphemy case.
“The mosque committee was deliberating on whether they should get an edict against Imran or hand him over to the police, but the police made a timely intervention and settled the matter through negotiations,” according to District Coordination Officer Muzaffar Khan Sial. “I have visited the village to make sure Christians have no security issues. Some of them may have fled in the beginning, but they are all back now. Only Imran Masih and his father Sharif Masih have not returned to the village.”
Nasir Iqbal Bosal, member of the National Assembly from Mandi Bahauddin who belongs to the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, said he was “very vigilant”. He too praised the police for its timely action, but added, “We never know when one black sheep can take advantage of the situation.”
“Peace has been restored in the village after police intervened,” said Amir Yaqoob. “Those who were threatening us now want to live in peace.”
But although there are no immediate threats, Christians fear they will face consequences for long, especially when it comes to their livelihoods. Many of them work under the Atharhi or Seipi system, under which poor untouchable castes have been historically forced into degrading occupations and bonded labor. A Christian couple that was burned alive in a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan in 2014 could not leave their jobs because of the same system.
“Although most Christians have returned to their houses, only those Christians are being hired for labor who have had been given an advance payment. Despite the wheat harvest season, Christians are not being hired for regular labor,” according to 25-year-old Asif Ishaq. “We are dependent on Muslim landlords for our livelihoods.”
Christians and Muslims both denied a newspaper report that Christians’ houses and property were the primary motive behind the unrest. “These houses were allotted to the Christian community during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s times, and they are the owners of the property,” said Naseer Bhatti. “They are also not at a ‘prime location’.”
The district police officer said two committees had been constituted to bring the communities closer together, and anyone inciting hatred against Christians will be arrested in line with the National Action Plan against terrorism and extremism.