Mass attack by Muslims in Faisalabad district of Punjab province, Pakistan, on a Christian woman accused of blasphemy

Mass attack by Muslims in Faisalabad district of Punjab province, Pakistan, on a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. In Gojra tehsil Kator village, the mob tried to kill Saima Masih (32), a Christian mother of two children. The attack came after a person named Muhammad Haider made allegations that she insulted the pages of the Quran and hurt Islamic religious sentiments. Minorities Alliance Pakistan attorney Akmal Bhatti revealed that the mob would have beaten Saima to death if the police had not arrived on time.

Meanwhile, the mob reportedly attacked some other Christian residents of the village. To save their lives, they left their homes and took shelter in the fields. According to the report, the allegation against the Christian woman was rooted in a personal grudge against the Muslim neighbours. She said her neighbor Haider asked her for an empty sack and gave it to him. After some time Hyder returned with some other Muslims and alleged that there were soiled pages of the Qur'an in that sack.

As false propaganda about this spread rapidly, a mob of 250-300 Muslims blocked the main highway in protest. There are 30 to 35 Christian families in the village. Akmal Bhatti, who is also a human rights activist, says that the young woman was beaten up by the followers of Islam who had come in a group. The Catholic woman was arrested after the police came under pressure after the violence. Following the security threat, her family has gone into hiding.

The woman, who was arrested for spreading false propaganda about defaming the Quran, has been charged under Section 295-B of the Indian Penal Code, which carries a life sentence. This is the latest in a series of cases where Pakistan's majority community registers false cases against Christians to settle personal vendettas.