The following post is from our contact in Pakistan.
On August 16, 2012 Rimsha Masih – a Christian girl of 14 years – was arrested under the accusation of Blasphemy Law in the federal capital Islamabad-Pakistan. Rimsha Masih, along with her family, was living in the Maharabadi (Mahar Jaffar) – a slum Area of Islamabad.
An angry mob led by Hafiz Muhammad Khalid Jadoon Chishi beat the Mentally ill Rimsha Masih and her mother. Later, the police came to rescue Rimsha and lodged an FIR against her that alleged she had torn the pages of a Qur’an.
Since the day she was arrested, Christian families had to flee that region to save their lives. Many of them were being beaten by the mob on the day this incident happened. Angry mobs had planned to set their homes on fire, so they ran to save their lives on the same night, leaving their homes open to looters. Many of families got shelter in Church compounds and even some tried to settle down in the forest in sector G-9/4 but due to the clutch of local residents and interference of local police, they couldn’t. Our group reached the spot on same night and tried to find the facts regarding the case. Our team was the first to publish this case in local media as well as in international media.
On 23rd August, 2012 our people working in Pakistan filed the bail application for Rimsha Masih. After having met with her in the Adaila Jail on the same morning, the bail application was fixed on August 28th for hearing, whereas when APMA leadership got this information they superseded the Power of Attorney from her mother. As APMA (All Pakistan Minority Alliance) felt that this will be the high profile case and this could give us favor in upcoming elections. After having meetings with the APMA representative Mr. Tahir Naveed Chudary, who later became the Advocate of Rimsha, our leader in Pakistan stopped his legal team to make any further interference in court matters. He decided to let APMA handle the case and we will only follow the case as well help all those who flee from Maharabadi.
Since the rehabilitation process started, these families were neglected by the local government and NGO’s mostly. But our people had taken care of these displaced families. By providing them food and other necessities for 2 weeks.
On September 7th, Session Court of Islamabad granted bail to Rimsha Masih. Court set the bail of one Million Pakistani rupees (10,600$) as her family lives in poverty. Umanitaria Padana Onlus, an Italian Organization sent 10,000 euros “stated by Sara Fumagalli an official of Italian Organization”.
Rimsha was taken to the safe place from Adiala Jail by military Helicopter. She stayed one night at Women headquarters of police in police line Islamabad. Later on she was moved to an unknown place. Some sources confirm that she stayed at the home of Dr. Paul Bhatti (this is the place where CNN took interviewer). According to one Christian Activist, she was then moved to diplomatic Avenue as many European countries have offered them the Asylum /refugee status. Though in her telephonic interviewer to local Media in Pakistan, she stated “she will stay in Pakistan, whereas she also show her fear from Muslim extremists.”
After the movie Innocence of Muslims, the situation in Pakistan changed in hours. The Muslim witnesses who had given a statement against the Muslim cleric Khalid Jadoon reversed their testimonies that again rang the Alarm bell for Rimsha Masih. Few of the Pakistani Christians who are in Europe still love their brothers and sisters in Pakistan. A Group of Christian people visited Pakistan and met with foreign diplomats regarding Rimsha Masih. According to the information, one of the European countries which already offered Asylum to Rimsha again came forward with the same offer as well the European Pakistan Christian offer them the Financial support for their travel to the safe place.
Thanks to almighty God that she reached in some safe place in Europe along with her parents and now she could re-start her life again.
When Our people filed the bail petition, many National so-called NGOs and APMA criticized us. One group came forward to hold a press conference against Our Organization in Pakistan as they tried to play with the life of poor Rimsha. APMA stated that the Application of Quashment of FIR is the only solution, if our people did not file the bail application for Rimsha Masih she might be in the jail today, as all the witnesses reversed thier testimonies and everyone is again supporting the statement of Khalid Jadoon (a Muslim Cleric).
Here are links to stories from Norway…
http://www.vl.no/verden/aktor-blasfemi-anklaget-jente-romte-til-norge/