Blasphemy Charge Dropped Against Sangla Hill Christian

A Muslim man who accused a young Christian man in the Sangla Hill Community that of desecrating the Koran has dropped the charges.

|TOP|The news brings relief to hundreds of Christians in Pakistan who remain on high alert after much persecution.

Mohammed Saleem Kalu’s accusations against Yousaf Masih, a semi-illiterate agricultural labourer, of blasphemy had sparked a large scale attack against the Sangla Hill community in November 2005.

In the attack on the community in November 2005 a mob of around 2,000 Muslims destroyed three churches and other Christian buildings in the area.

The accusations also led to calls from some extremist Islamic groups for the public execution of Masih.

|AD|The accuser, Kalih, has since withdrawn his charge and signed a document declaring the man’s innocence, admitting he had accused the Christian on the basis of “mere suspicion”, reports AsiaNews.

Members of the Christian and Muslim communities followed Kalih’s decision to drop charges by signing a “document of peace and reconciliation”. Both documents were drawn up last week, before being signed on 7 January by 20 members of the community, 10 Christians and 10 Muslims.

The attack on 12 November 2005 prompted numerous calls from Christian leaders for the abrogation of the blasphemy law and an end to religious fundamentalism in the country.

A letter sent by Pakistani Christian leaders to President Musharraf last month said the Sangla Hill case “must be treated like an example, to give a strong message to fanatics and terrorists who with their actions endanger the very existence of Pakistan”.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, also urged the reform of Pakistan’s Blasphemy laws during a tour of Pakistan’s earthquake-stricken regions in November 2005.

Dr Williams said: “I think it is widely recognised that the abuse of the blasphemy laws is a major problem which this country has to tackle; the problem is not so muc