LAHORE, Pakistan – An eighth-grade student in Pakistan has
been expelled from school and her family forced to relocate after the Christian
girl misspelled “Muhammad,” leading to accusations of blasphemy, sources told
Compass Direct News.
In Abbottabad, 13-year-old Faryal Bhatti, a student at the Sir Syed Girls High
School in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) Colony Havelian, misspelled a word
on an Urdu exam Sept. 22 while answering a question on a poem in praise of the
Muslim prophet Muhammad, according to area Christians. Urdu is a language.
Faryal wrote laanat, the transliteration of the Urdu word for “curse,” instead
of naat, which means a poem written in praise of Islam’s prophet, they said.
The school administration and local Islamists declared that the error was
serious enough to violate Pakistan’s widely condemned laws against blaspheming
Muhammad and Islam.
Conviction under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy law for derogatory
comments about Muhammad is punishable by death, though life imprisonment also
is possible.
Faryal’s Urdu teacher was collecting the answer sheets from her students when
she noticed the word on Faryal’s paper. The teacher, identified only as
Fareeda, summoned the Christian girl, scolded her and beat her, area sources
told Compass by telephone.
Fareeda then notified the principal, who in turn informed school officials as
news of the error spread throughout the colony. The next day, male students at
the school as well as some Muslim representatives staged a demonstration,
demanding registration of a criminal case against the eighth-grader and her
eviction from the area, sources said.
Prayer leaders within the Muslim community also condemned the incident in their
Friday sermons, asking the colony’s administration to take action against
Faryal as well as her family, sources said.
POF Colony Havelian Managing Director Asif Siddiki called a meeting of clerics
and school teachers to discuss the conflict, according to reports, at which the
girl and her mother were ordered to appear; they explained that it was a mere
error caused by a resemblance between the two words.
The girl and her mother immediately apologized, contending that Faryal had no
malicious intentions, but in a move apparently designed to pacify Muslim cries
for punishment, the POF administration expelled her from the school Sept. 24.
School administrator Junaid Sarfraz said Faryal had confessed that she had
inadvertently made the mistake and the school administration, after consulting
local clerics, decided to expel her. Sarfraz claimed that Faryal’s teacher was
certain that she had made the mistake intentionally and that the matter was
referred to clerics because Faryal had previously aroused similar suspicions of
blasphemy.
Maulana Alla Dita, head of the area’s prominent mosque, reportedly said the
school administration had made the right decision in expelling Faryal from
school. Dita claimed that he had met with Faryal, who had apologized for the
mistaken use of the word. Dita said he wasn’t clear about Faryal’s intentions,
but that “the word she had used was sacrilegious,” according to press reports.
Faryal’s mother, Sarafeen Bhatti, a staff nurse at the POF Hospital Havelian for
several years, immediately was transferred to POF Wah Cantonment Hospital.
Abbottabad District Commissioner Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah said the 13-year-old
had been expelled for using “derogatory words” and her mother had consequently
been “moved to another place.”
A Christian lawyer in Havelian who was among the community members making
efforts to defuse area tensions told Compass by phone that the military had
acted swiftly to save the lives of Faryal and her mother.
“The military swung into action soon after protests broke out calling for a
blasphemy case against the teenager,” the attorney said on condition of
anonymity. “They bundled the family in an ambulance and took them away before
the situation could turn violent.”
A text message campaign also started Sept. 24, calling for action against the
family, he said.
“Some Christian families living in the area panicked, but the situation has
been under control so far,” he said.
An area Christian told Compass there were 13 or 14 Christian families in the
colony who now have fears about security. He said Faryal’s family had little
contact with other Christians living in the area. The resident also praised the
army for acting in a timely manner, “or else the mullahs would have punished
all of us for the little girl’s error.”
The incident has instilled fear in Christian parents that an unintentional
mistake by their children could cause them personal disaster. Shazia Imran,
mother to three schoolchildren, told Compass that Faryal’s episode had left her
distressed.
“Ever since I came to know about the young girl’s story, I have been unable to
sleep properly,” she said. “We have been continuously telling our children not
to discuss their faith with anyone in school and to avoid getting into
religious discussions with their Muslim class fellows, but this was beyond my
imagination.”
She added that she and her husband were now “very disturbed and fearful” about
their children’s future in Pakistan.
Azra George, a Christian mother to a college student, said the incident had
shocked her and the congregation at her Presbyterian church.
“Everyone at church was discussing this sorry incident on Sunday,” she said. “Parents
of school-going children were particularly perturbed. This blasphemy thing will
always remain hanging on our heads like a sword, and there’s nothing anyone can
do about it.”
Compass’s repeated attempts to reach the Bhatti family were unsuccessful as
they had moved to an undisclosed location because of security concerns.
Asif Aqeel, executive director of the Community Development Initiative, an
affiliate of the European Centre for Law and Justice, said the incident showed
how Pakistani society was getting sensitized over the issue of blasphemy.
“Only a small number of people are formally accused of blasphemy. We do not
know the number of people who, like Faryal and her family, are harassed without
a legal charge,” he said. “Members of Pakistan’s minority communities are
afraid of moving around and expressing themselves freely due to the fear of
being accused of blasphemy.”
Christians make up only 2.45 percent of Pakistan’s population, which is more
than 95 percent Muslim, according to Operation World. Aqeel said a Christian
boy recently was implicated in a criminal case of harassment by the family of a
Muslim girl who was in love with him. Aqeel said the boy’s family urged the
police investigating officer to free the boy, whose name was withheld for
security reasons, as the charges were baseless.
“The family was taken aback when the police official told them that their son
had mocked the Sunnah (sayings and teachings) of prophet Muhammad by keeping a
French beard,” Aqeel said. Thus, although the harassment case had nothing to do
with the blasphemy law, the mere mention of the law forced the family to keep
silent, he said.
Similarly, Christian teachers avoid lessons that mention Islamic history or
anything related to the religion out of fear that any misstep could bring
criminal charges. Likewise, Urdu language and social studies textbooks include
several lessons on Islamic religious thought, so Christian teachers avoid
nearly half of these books to avoid being charged with blasphemy, he said.
Napolean Qayyum, a leader of the Minorities Wing of the ruling Pakistan People’s
Party, condemned the incident, saying it was unfortunate that a 13-year-old had
to suffer this ordeal over a miniscule error.
“The army’s timely intervention saved the Christians’ lives, but most people
are not so fortunate,” he said, adding that the incident showed how intolerance
towards minorities was taking root in Pakistani society.
“Would the teacher have highlighted the same mistake if it was made by a Muslim
student?” he said. “I would guess not.”
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Written by Compass Direct News, a California-based news
service focusing on the persecuted church. Used by permission.)