Muslim extremists target mentally ill Christian - CLAAS

Lahore, Pakistan: January 20, 2010, (PCTV Newsdesk)

after he remarked to another customer that there were no movies showing on the shop’s TV because it was Yom-e-Ashura, the day Shiite Muslims mourn the death of Hussein ibn Ali, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. 

A Muslim customer, Naveed, accused him of making blasphemous and derogatory comments about Hussein ibn Ali, prompting the shop owner, Naeem, to start beating him with an iron rod.

Shumaile ran and hid inside his house but Naveed and Naeem gathered their brothers and other Muslim extremists and went to attack the house, breaking many items and stealing gold ornaments. 

Only his elderly grandparents were home at the time. The attackers shouted insults at them and told them they were going to log a First Information Report for blasphemy against Shumaile. 

His father Aleem Mansoor told CLAAS that although the family had just moved to Iqbal Town three months ago, they had good relations with their neighbours in the town, including Naeem and Naveed, and that everyone knew that Shumaile had a mental disability. 

Aleem went to the shop and told Naveed and Naeem that they should have spoken to him or at least have waited for the police to respond to their FIR before attacking Shumaile. However, they and several others turned on Aleem and two of his sons who had accompanied him. 

Some female members of the family were also beaten as they tried to stop the attack, with one attacker even snatching the seven-month-old daughter of Shumaile’s sister-in-law and throwing her to the ground. His younger sister was knocked unconscious by a blow to the head from another of the attackers, at which point the mob ran off, thinking she had died. 

The accusation of blasphemy is believed to have its roots in an incident involving Shumaile two weeks before, when he witnessed Naveed and his brothers beating a Christian boy. 

“Shumaile had seen this all, and had protested with Naveed over this, and when he came home he was very upset over the beating and repeatedly asked his mother to go and ask Naveed about it,” Aleem and his wife Aqsa Aleem told the CLAAS team.

They said: “We think that Naveed bore a grudge because of Shumaile’s inquiry and protest about that beating of a Christian.”

CLAAS held a meeting with local police to discuss the attack. They told the CLAAS team that they wanted to help the Christian family because it would be very tough for them if they had to go to court to defend themselves against their attackers’ blasphemy charge. 

Aleem has registered a case against the attackers and asked that the police take serious action against the culprits. He told the CLAAS team that so far the police had just made excuses to let the culprits off the hook. The police said they were reluctant to be seen favouring the Christians because it could stir up antagonism against them and that they wanted both sides to compromise.

They added that around 70 local Christians had backed the claims of blasphemy against Shumaile, leading them to suggest that Christians may also hold a grudge against Aleem and his family.

They have left the area at the behest of police and local Muslims who are threatening to kill them. 

CLAAS provided financial assistance to the family to help meet the costs of medical treatment for Shumaile’s sisters, and has offered legal support if they have to go to court.

For more detail visit www.claas.org.uk