Michele
Langevine Leiby and Shaiq Hussain wrote this article published by the
Washington post. This article is about a fourteen-year-old girl from Pakistan
who was sent to jail on blasphemy charges. This young girl was accused of
carrying burnt pages of the Koran in a trash bag around in her village. Once
the population got word of her alleged blasphemy the young girl was threatened
and told that she would be burned alive by a local mob. As a result of the
constant threats to the young girls life the police were said to have arrested
her for her own safety and placed her parents into protective custody. On the
surface, the act of carrying burnt pages of the Koran would seem like a
blasphemous thing to do but the issue runs much deeper than that. This young girl
was discriminated against, set up, and used as a message to spark fear in the
hearts of her people. She is one of the 2 percent of Christians living in
Pakistans population of 180 million. The imam of her local mosque was seen
placing the burnt pages of the Koran into the young girls trash bag. This was done in an attempt to
spark fear in the Christian community at the expense of the young girl. His act
seemed to have done the trick because consequentially several hundred of the
Christian population fled after the girl’s arrest. Later police discovered that
the young girl most likely suffers from a mental challenge and diagnosed it as
possible Down syndrome. One million people signed a petition for the bail of
this young girl and eventually that bail was granted. Pakistani human rights
leaders have recognized the issue and plan to take action.
This
article is another example of the many forms of inequalities around the world.
Religious inequality will always be a factor for the 2 percent of Christians
living in Pakistan. It is scary and pretty sad that the population has to live in fear of
being taken advantage of by people of such esteem like religious officials, the
justice system, and so forth. The imam was probably aware of the 14-year-old
girls mental condition and took advantage of her to set his plan into motion.
All people should be able to feel free to make their own choices when it comes
to what they believe no matter where they live. The fact that this right is not
one known to a good number of the world’s population is a shame. Equal
opportunities and safety should be available to all people regardless of their
religious affiliations.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/bail-allowed-for-christian-girl-accused-of-blasphemy-in-pakistan/2012/09/07/abcc51be-f8d7-11e1-a073-78d05495927c_story.html
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