Pakistan: Chinese man arrested for blasphemy released on bail

A Chinese national who had been arrested in Pakistan over allegations of blasphemy has been released on bail by an anti-terrorism court in Abbottabad. According to Pakistan media reports, the Chinese engineer, who had been detained at the Dasu hydropower project in Kohistan district earlier this month after a crowd accused him of committing blasphemy, was released on bail on the orders of Judge Sajjad Ahmad Jan. According to the orders of the court, the Chinese worker was released from police custody and transferred to a secret location in exchange for Pakistan Rupee (PKR) 200,000 in local bank surety bonds. The Chinese national was not taken to the court during the hearing due to security concerns. The records of the accusers and of the Chinese man were presented by the joint investigation team (JIT) in the court. Naseerudden, Kamila Station House Office, who was among the main complainants in the case, appeared before the court with relevant records. As the incident happened on April 15, the judge stated in his order that workers Gulistan, Shafi, Qadir, and translator Yasir registered the first information report (FIR) in the case after two days on April 17. They narrated the hearsay tale before the JIT but were unable to present witnesses to corroborate their claims or establish charges in their individual statements. The translator (Yasir), who was 35-40 feet away from the Chinese man who was in charge of heavy transports at the Dasu Dam Project at the time of the incident, according to the judge’s order, assumed that the latter was the one who made the alleged sacrilegious statements. The judge said in the order, “Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code [PPC] says whoever by words, either spoken or written or by visible representation or by any imputation or innuendo or insinuation directly or indirectly defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to be fined that in light of the available record.” He added, “The case of accused petitioner not comes within the ambit of the reasonable ground; that the accused petitioner is a foreigner and came here for his services at the Dasu Dam Project in Kohistan that a procession by the people of locality (Upper Kohistan) was the result of misunderstanding as a result of which whereof the local police station in Kohistan concocted this false case against Chinese national while according to available record, no such offence was committed by the accused and hence granted the bail.” The FIR in the incident was filed at the Kamila Police Station in Upper Kohistan in accordance with Sections 295-C of the Pakistani Penal Code and Sections 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The release of the Chinese national was a judicial matter and they accepted it wholeheartedly, but Maulana Waliullah Tohidi, a member of the Ulema Jirga established by the local clerics after the incident to oversee the Chinese national blasphemy case, said the translator Yasir who made accusations against the latter should be brought to justice under the appropriate sections of the law as he incited local Kohistanis to take to the streets. “We (Kohistanis) are patriotic Pakistani and would never allow anybody within the country or outside to sabotage the Dasu Hydropower Project at any cost,” he told the media. (With agency inputs) Read all the Latest News, Trending News,  Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.