The murder of a Christian couple on Tuesday for allegedly desecrating the Koran has highlighted the sensitivity of the issue in Pakistan. Cr...
The murder of a Christian couple on Tuesday for allegedly desecrating the Koran has highlighted the sensitivity of the issue in Pakistan. Critics argue that blasphemy laws are often misused to settle personal scores and unfairly target minorities. The father of the murdered woman told the BBC she had really been killed over a wages dispute. ahore, Pakistan, Nov 5, 2014 / 04:35 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The reported killing of a Christian couple in Pakistan by a mob on Tuesday has sparked calls for the nation's government to protect its people, and especially its minorities. “The burning alive of a Christian couple is a test case for our government. Our government must provide protection to all citizens and especially to the poor and downtrodden Christians,” Fr. James Channan, O.P., director of the Peace Center Lahore, told CNA Nov. 4 in an email interview. That morning, Shahzad Masih and his wife Shama, a Christian couple, were allegedly killed and their bodies burned by a mob after they were accused of desecrating the Quran. The couple lived in Kot Radha Kishan, a city located nearly 40 miles southwest of Lahore. Shama was pregnant, and the couple had three additional children. They were reported to be in their 20s or 30s. Fr. Channan said he is “under a deep shock and disbelief” because of the incident. “I demand from the government and law enforcing agencies of Pakistan that justice must be done and culprits must be punished.” The Masihs' bodies were allegedly burned in a brick kiln where they had worked, but there are varying reports of the details of the case. Legal Evangelical Association Development, a Pakistani minority rights group, was told by Muhammad Rafique, one of the Masihs' coworkers, that following the recent death of Shahzad's father, Shama collected some of his things, burning them and throwing the ashes in the garbage. According to Rafique, their employer noticed this, and charged that some of the burnt pages were from the Quran; he then... Less