Pakistan Hindu arrested for blasphemy

Lahore, August 14

A Hindu man in Pakistan’s Punjab province has been arrested for allegedly committing blasphemy by making ‘disrespectful’ comments about Muslim holy places and shifted to jail to protect him from an enraged mob. The police took the suspect — Akbar Ram of Rahim Yar Khan district, some 400 km from Lahore — into custody on the complaint filed by Faisal Munir, a person from his area, who produced two witnesses before the police to make a case against him.

Inspector Safdar Hussain of Kotsamaba police station said the accused was arrested on August 11 and immediately shifted to jail on judicial remand, fearing a law-and-order situation in the village.

Complainant Faisal Munir, a motor mechanic, said Akbar Ram came to his workshop and made disrespectful comments on Muslim holy places and also Islam.