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_WORLD WATCH______________________________
_____________________PAKISTAN___________________
Blasphemy charges dropped
Some Christians still face trial
After a group of people representing several different religious groups were arrested and charged with violation of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy laws, several members of the group were unexpectedly released in mid-January, the Fides news service reported.
A Catholic priest, Father Arnold Heredia, had been arrested on January 10 during a protest march in Karachi. Two other Christians and 14 Muslims were arrested with him. But they were released, and charges dropped, a week later.
“We are not sure of the exact story as to why the authorities dropped the charges,” said Atfab Mughal, secretary of the Justice and Peace Commission of the Multan diocese. “We think it was due to pressure from the people.” He stressed that neither Father Heredia nor his fellow prisoners had entered into any plea-bargaining agreement.
However, two young Protestants who were arrested for a second incident in the town of Jacobabad early in January remained behind bars, Fides reported. The arrests in Jacobabad came after Protestants distributed Christian literature, and copies of a film about Jesus, in the predominantly Muslim town. Religious tensions have been high in Jacobabad for weeks, after Muslim zealots robbed and vandalized the local Baptist church. Muslim religious leaders in the town had reportedly encouraged members of the Christian minority to withdraw from their churches, and take their children out of the local Christian school.