Two Christian nurses in Punjab, Pakistan have been wrongly accused of blasphemously vandalizing a hospital facility that showed a Quran verse.
Pakistani police in Faisalabad City arrested two Christian nurses working at Civil Hospital, where the nurses were accused by a Muslim coworker of desecrating a wall with Quran verses. Nurse Maryam Lal and a third-year student Navish Arooj were taken by the police and formally charged with blasphemy.
According to International Christian Concern, Lal was ordered to remove old wall hangings and stickers from a wall in the hospital by a senior nurse by the name of Rukhsana. However, it all appeared to be a ruse by Rukhsana to get other Muslim hospital staff to condemn the Christian nurse as Rukhsana reportedly held a grudge against Lal. Rukhsana also claims that she saw Arooj scratch and remove the stickers with Quran verses on it.
Lal was then attacked by Mohammad Waqas, a Muslim staffer at the hospital's pharmacy who wielded a knife at her as she was attending to a patient. Lal incurred several injuries to her arm. Ironically, Waqas was not arrested for inflicting physical harm.
The Christian Post reported that a video shared to social media showed how Waqas called Lal vulgar names and rallied other employees to persecute her for tearing down a sticker with a Quran verse on it. False blasphemy charges were leveled at Lal after news about her spread throughout the community. A group of angered Muslims even protested outside Civil Hospital and demanded that the Christian nurse be arrested and hanged for committing blasphemy.
The Bishops of Pakistan's National Commission for Justice and Peace quickly came to the defense of the two Christian nurses facing blasphemy charges, ICN reported. Program coordinator Kashif Aslam accused the hospital staff of a "false accusation against Christian women." Aslam insisted that people of Christian faith have "deep sensitivity" about religious freedom and are "also taught to respect other religions." He does not believe that the nurses had indeed desecrated the stickers containing Quran verses.
Ministry of Human Rights and Minority Affairs Punjab member Asif Munawar called upon the Pakistani government to ensure that the Christian nurses undergo a "fair investigation," especially with the country's strict blasphemy laws in place, ICC reported.
Pakistan's blasphemy laws are often used by some Muslims driven by religious hatred or personal vendetta. Such blasphemy charges often incite "mob lynchings, vigilante murders, and mass protests" in the country.
"We call on Pakistani authorities to thoroughly and fairly investigate this false allegation and bring the false accuser to justice. Pakistan's blasphemy laws must no longer be allowed to settle personal scores or incite religious hatred," ICC Regional Manager William Stark declared. "Too often these laws have been a tool in the hands of extremists seeking to stir up religiously motivated violence against minorities."
In 2020 alone, there were about 200 individuals who were accused of blasphemy, an all time high that has concerned human rights advocates all over the world. More concerningly, about 54% of all blasphemy accusations target minorities, including 15.5% targeting Christians, who make up only 1.6% of the total population of Pakistan, ICC reported.
