Pakistan minorities thrown under blasphemy bus, but Chinese who stopped workers from taking long prayer breaks set free

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan has set free a Chinese national arrested in the country on charges of committing blasphemy and has been shifted to an undisclosed location. The court judge said the police station in Kohistan had registered a “false case” against the Chinese national and no offence of blasphemy was committed by him. Quoting from the section pertaining to blasphemy, the judge ruled that the case did not come within the ambit of “reasonable ground” as the blasphemy charge was the “result of a misunderstanding”. The bail was granted to the Chinese national after he furnished a bond of Rs 200,000 as surety. On 16 April, a mob blocked the Karakoram Highway, accusing the Chinese national of committing blasphemy while exchanging arguments with labourers over long prayer breaks at the project site. He was arrested on the same day and a charge of blasphemy was slapped against him. Under Pakistan’s penal code, blasphemy is punishable by death or life imprisonment. On Thursday, two lawyers represented the Chinese national who had filed a petition in the court for bail. He was, however, not brought to the tribunal for security reasons. The lawyers of the petitioner stressed that their client was innocent and termed that the blasphemy charge against him was false. Recorded statements by the accusers and the Chinese national were put before the court by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) which was constituted to probe the matter. The main complainant and Naseeruddin, the SHO of Kamila police station, were present in the court with records. During the hearing, the judge said the three labourers and their interpreter, who had lodged the FIR two days after the incident, were not able to produce evidence in support of their accusations in the court. The judge further said that the complainants could not prove charges in their statements before the JIT. The judge further said that the interpreter was 35-40 feet away from the Chinese national, simply assuming that he had uttered sacrilegious remarks. Maulana Waliullah Tohidi, a member of Ulema Jirga constituted by clerics after the alleged incident, said the release of the Chinese national was a judicial matter and “we accept it wholeheartedly”. He, however, said that the interpreter should be put on trial for “instigating the people of Kohistan to take to the streets”. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.