Christian Girl accused of blasphemy for spelling error in Pakistan

[h=1]Girl accused of blasphemy for a spelling error[/h]It may have been a mere misplaced dot that led to accusations of blasphemy against a Christian eighth-grader, whose miniscule error led to her expulsion from school and uproar amongst local religious leaders.

Faryal Bhatti, a student at the Sir Syed Girls High School in Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF) colony Havelian, erroneously misspelt a word in an Urdu exam while answering a question on a poem written in praise of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). The word in question was ‘laanat’ instead of ‘naat’ – an easy error for a child to make, as the written versions of the words are similar.
According to the school administration and religious leaders who took great exception to the hapless student’s mistake, the error is ‘serious’ enough to fall within the realm of blasphemy, Saturday.
Spelling out her punishment
On Thursday, Faryal’s Urdu teacher was collecting the answer sheets from her students when she noticed the apparently offensive word on her pupil’s sheet. The teacher, Fareeda Bibi, reportedly summoned the Christian girl, scolded her and beat her. Her punishment, however, did not end here. When Faryal’s class fellows learnt of the alleged blasphemy, the teacher brought the principal’s notice to the matter, who further informed the school management.
In the meanwhile, the news spread throughout the colony. The next day, male students of the POF colony school as well as certain religious elements took out a rally, demanding the registration of a criminal case against the eighth-grader and her expulsion from the area.
Prayer leaders within the community also condemned the incident in their Friday sermons, asking the colony’s administration to not only take action against Faryal but her entire family. In the wake of the increasing tensions, Managing Director POF Colony Havelian Asif Siddiki called a meeting of colony-based ulemas and school teachers to discuss the situation. The girl and her mother were asked to appear before the meeting, where they explained that it was a mere error, caused by a resemblance between the two words. The two immediately apologised, adding that Faryal had no malicious intentions.
In a move that was apparently meant to pacify the religious elements clamouring for action against the teenage ‘blasphemer’, the POF administration expelled her from the school on Saturday. Faryal was not the only one who got in trouble for her spelling error, however, as her mother, Sarafeen Bhatti, who was a staff nurse at the POF Hospital Havelian for several years, was immediately transferred to POF Wah Cantonment Hospital.

Full Story: http://tribune.com.pk/story/259907/girl-accused-of-blasphemy-for-a-spelling-error/

My Take: All religious minorities should leave Pakistan at the earliest. They will always be persecuted in this strange country for not being a Sunni Muslim. Heck even the Shia Muslims are not safe....considering that the founding father of Pakistan - Mohmammed Ali Jinnah - was a Shia. Hindus, Christians, Ahmaddiyas don't stand a chance. Run away before you are run over

 

OMG. Pakistan is so fucking backward. Although its not a surprise, one has heard worst incidents too, but seriously all religious minorities should leave pakistan or any other muslim country.

 

not surprising in that country, where the governor of Punjab was slain by his own body guard and no priest dared to perform the last ritual. The country is still ruled by zealots and its people are living in the medieval ages. They should learn from Turkey rather that Taliban and base their constitution as per the Turkish one. It is a big country with good resources. They can contribute to the world with positive actions rather than becoming an international migraine.

 

All people were created to be good, but not all are. All people were created to be smart, but not all are. All people were created to live like brothers, but not all do. If they followed a teaching of Love, brotherhood and sisterhood they would have looked at that girl's mistake as if it were made by their sister, or daughter and would have corrected her in a friendly manner. Instead they showed anger - no love. What teachings those religious leaders follow? And so many of them men and women against a little girl.
It would be better off if her teachers are paid not to teach, to save the children's minds and hearts.

 

How outrageou..... Oh wait.... that's Pakistan, Ah never mind..

That girl should be happy...at least they didn't give out 100 lashes for insulting Muhmmad.

 

The Pakistan military and its intelligence agency have fucked up that country beyond repair, especially with its propaganda and hate filled public school syllabus. Adults imbibe what they learn during their formative years, and most of today's Pakistani generation has imbibed radicalism. No wonder you will find more support for that poor girl's punishment than horror at this treatment. A true basket case country....

 

Not that I disagree with you but:

 

Shouldn't it read Made 'By' U.S.A.?

 

I am sure you know what I mean, plus most likely many of their leaders were trained in USA. It is common for these type of dictatorships to send their officers for training to USA.

 

Any names.

 

Oh thank god! For a second there, I thought you were going to say, "Its the Jews fault". Hey, maybe it was the Jews IN the USA that are to blame! We can sell that one I'm sure! It certainly couldn't have anything to do with the terrorists themselves.

 

When I was in school I had two classmates who were Christians and they get the free pass in Islamic studies classes. Don't know why this school is not following the rule. Non-Muslims students are exempted from Islamic studies by default, unless they choose the subject.

 

That depends on how old are you.. If you are anywhere near my age, things were really different back then.. There has been a surge in radicalism post 2001.
Also, it depends on the area, big metro cities are tend to be way more progressive than rural/tribal areas..

 

This is true. I have a friend who's father is an Iranian Jew, which reflects about 2% of the population it seems. He escaped when he was 16 to come to New York and attain citizenship with hardly any money and make it living with others of his background there. Eventually, most of his family escaped as well. I can see Iran, but Pakistan I figured to be more 2nd world than that. This kind of fundamentalism and intolerance and hatred has no place in this world but what can you do? It's idiotic and stupid and I just wish the world would let them know how ridiculously ludicrous they really are. These are basically hate crimes against humanity and they deserve sanctions over this. This would hopefully, in theory, force the people to stand up and overthrow the corrupt governments and the intolerant Sunnis that cause all of the problems and hate. It's strange that they get angry over religious matters, yet don't practice what the Islamic faith says about peace and tolerance. And the worst part, is that they can't forgive the Western world and throw around "jihad" like it's some kind of immunity for their actions. Good job fools.

 

I have no wish to nitpick over figures but......you're figures are wrong.At 2% of the population that would put the Jewish Iranian disapora at 1.2 million.It is far smaller than that and is only 100,000 Jews based mostly in Teheran.

 

Yes because Islamic studies should be a top priority

How come ICE hasn't iced you yet ? Or did the border jumpers gave you a fake SSN as well ?

 

What do you say about Christian studies being top priority in missionary schools?


But yeah, Islamic wackos are more wackos than Christian Wackos says Bill Maher.

[video=youtube;bXTZj2Ca3Rc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXTZj2Ca3Rc[/video]

Although I wanna kill him for wanting to kill Garfield.

 

you can have sanctions on some people or some specific group or anything, but you cant sanction an entire muslim country which has so much violence and backwardness even for native muslims. I hope America gets a stupid excuse of WMD like iraq and attack every muslim nation and void them with their dumbness.

 

Herein lies the problem that I have with some of the members on P&R.I can and do fully appreciate how angry Americans and others are over 9/11 and other events.Who can in all fairness blame them? My stance is that blanket statements condemning the entire Muslim community are not only unfair but illogical.Can a Muslim living in Indonesia be held responsible for the actions of a hardliner living in Saudi Arabia?
Let us avoid these sweeping indictments and let's be focusing on the militants,and leave the vast majority of Muslims who enjoy living in peace out of the argument.

 

Nope, they are only responsible for violence in Indonesia:

[video=youtube;a8s-Xyi76AA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8s-Xyi76AA[/video]