Blasphemy case evokes fear in Pakistan Christian town
FOR Rafia Margaret, the case of a young Pakistani Christian girl accused of blasphemy rekindled horrifying memories of the day a furious mob smashed through her front door and torched her house.
On Aug. 1, 2009 Margaret, then aged 28, had just finished breakfast at home in the Punjab town of Gojra when she heard the announcements over the mosque loudspeakers urging Muslims to attack the Christian quarter.
Minutes later an angry crowd massed outside her modest one-storey house in the Korian area of the town baying for revenge after rumors spread that Christians had desecrated a Koran.
As the pack swelled still further and violence erupted, she ran to her roof to judge the seriousness of the situation while her mother and ailing father sought refuge in a Muslim neighbor’s house.
The sight of the tall, elegant girl on the roof enraged the mob more and they began attacking her door.
“I was terrified, so frightened I couldn’t think. I thought I was going to lose everything. I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to climb over to the Muslim neighbor’s house where my parents were hiding,” she said.
“Just as I got there, they entered our home and set it on fire. My father had heart surgery a few days earlier and when he went back and saw his house burned down, he died,” Margaret said.