Qamar David, a Christian victim of blasphemy buried in Lahore Today

Lahore, Pakistan: March 17, 2011, (PCTV Newsdesk)

Qamar David, a Christian victim of blasphemy buried in Lahore Qamar David, a Christian victim of blasphemy was buried in Lahore on March 17, 2011. The funeral took place at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Lahore. Most Rev. Sebastian Shaw, Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Lahore, Fr. Emmanuel Yousaf Mani, National Director, NCJP led the funeral prayer which was attended by around 300 clergy, relatives, human rights activists. 

Fr. Andrew Nisari the Vicar General, Lahore Archdiocese said in his message, “We, the Christian community are in shock and sad to receive another Christian dead after blasphemy allegation. David is another martyr in the Christian community of Pakistan. The Christian community is receiving a second dead body in the less than two weeks. The tragedy of the assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti is fresh in our minds. He urged the authorities to address the issue of protection of the religious minorities." 

David’s family and relatives did not allow the Cameras to the media to cover the funeral ceremony due to threats they said they received prior to Qamar's death. 

Qamar David was in jail since May 2006, following an accusation of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed and was found dead in prison cell in Karachi on March 15, 2011. 

According to sources Qamar David’s lawyer Pervez Chaudhry maintained that the allegations were spurious, triggered by a business rivalry, and that the conviction was the result of pressure from local religious clerics and their supporters. 

The prison authorities said that he died of a heart attack. A Session court in Karachi sentenced David to life imprisonment in February 2010.