Pakistani police: Muslim cleric framed girl in Pakistan blasphemy case

[cbayer]

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/03/pakistani-police-muslim-cleric-framed-girl-in-pakistan-blasphemy-case/

September 3rd, 2012
08:30 AM ET
From Nasir Habib, CNN

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) – Pakistani police say a Muslim cleric planted evidence to link a Christian girl to blasphemy - a new twist in a case that has fanned flames of religious tension in the country and attracted worldwide interest.

The imam, Khalid Jadoon Chishti, will himself face blasphemy charges for tearing pages out of a Quran to use as evidence against the girl, Islambad police chief Bin Yamin said.

The latest development may make it easier for the girl, 14-year-old Rimsha, to be released on bail at her next court hearing.

Police arrested Rimsha last month after a neighbor accused her of burning pages containing texts from the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

There is a link to the full story at this link, in case you are not familiar with it.

[trotsky]

1. A supposedly wise man once said, in this very forum:

"None of us would want to live in a society without some sort of an ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith."

None of us can say THAT society doesn't have an ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith. But how many of us would want to live in it?

[edhopper]

6. He only lied because he's Muslim

Christian clergy don't lie.

[trotsky]

11. Ah ah ah...

REAL Christian clergy don't lie. There are lots of fake Christians who do, but like Paul Ryan, they're all secretly atheists because we all know only atheists can be evil.

[skepticscott]

8. Apparently

ANY sort of "ethical sensitivity based on solid religious faith" will do, and be far superior to one reached without "solid religious faith", even it it means threatening an innocent and impaired child with the death penalty, not to mention the resulting death threats against her family and neighbors.

But we'll probably be told that these weren't "real" Muslims, just Muslimists, and that they don't count as religious people, because it's a given that no "real" religious person would do such things.

[trotsky]

12. I'm sure we will soon hear the wonderful stories...

of how people were motivated by their religious faith to find out the truth about this event caused by a person who was motivated by their religious faith but really he wasn't, as you know.

[The Magistrate]

2. Good For The Police, Ma'am

Hope they hammer the bastard good....

[cbayer]

3. Me, too. And release this poor child right away.

[pinto]

4. Agree. A 14 year old girl accused by a neighbor. And the imam looks to be hoisted on his own petard,

so to speak.

[okasha]

5. As a friend of mine used to say,

that ol' karma choo-choo done pulled into his station.

[skepticscott]

7. While it's nice that whatever system in place there

apparently has managed to get at the truth, if there weren't millions of people out there who think that "blasphemy" qualifies as a crime in the first place, and if there weren't people so fired up to punish others (even children) for it that they needed to frame them, this would never have been news at all.

But of course the fact that all of these cases were solely motivated by religious "faith" and belief will be ignored completely by certain folk in this forum. They know who they are.

[Igel]

9. There's so much missing from the story.

Did the imam plant the evidence after the neighbor made the accusation?

Did the imam put the neighbor up to the accusation?

Either way, why, exactly, did they make the accusation?

Did the girl not bed the imam's or neighbor's son?

Did the girl's father dare to not move and let the land they live on be used by a good Muslim or better Pakistani?

Did a family member say something offensive and this was the punishment for being uppity?

What does the imam's "flock" have to say about this?

Of course, it could be some other way completely.

[cbayer]

10. The facts surrounding this story have been very sparse. For example,

the girls age and the nature of her disability have been inconsistently reported.

Not sure how much more we will get.

[skepticscott]

13. The one fact that is not in question

is that this is all a result of a moral and ethical system based on "solid religious faith", which is the best kind, as I'm sure you've been told.