Mo’s name in a lavvie leads to ‘blasphemy’ charges

FIVE Pakistanis – four of them teenagers – are in prison this weekend following allegations by Muslim radicals that they had written the “prophet” Muhammad’s name in the bog of mosque in the Punjab.

Members of the Ahmadi sect of Islam, the five were  arrested last week for allegedly “desecrating” the name of Muhammad.

If you're going to 'desecrate' Mo in a lavvie, do it properly

If you're going to 'desecrate' Mo in a lavvie, do it properly

Given that two of the accused are Muhammads, it is difficult to see how anyone can prove that it was the name of Big Mo that was scrawled on the lavvy walls, and not the name of the boys – or for that matter, the name of around half the population of Pakistan.

That aside, the accused are not members of the Gulzare Madina mosque, and live nowhere near it. So how come they ended up in the slammer?

Because militant rug-butters threatened to riot if they weren’t banged up!

According to this report, a complaint was made to the police by a Mr Liaquat, who reported seeing the name of Muhammad on the walls of the mosque toilet in five different places. Liaquat concluded that the graffiti must have been a deed of an Ahmadi sect member A Mr Shahbaz, a government school teacher and a leader of the anti-Ahmadi sect movement, agreed that this was probably the case.

Shabaz then blamed the four students – three aged 14 and one aged 16  – claiming that the graffiti was written under the instruction of Mubashar Ahmed, 45, the adult accused. No evidence was gathered, and no investigation done before the five were arrested.

The accused were taken from their houses on the night of January 28 and placed custody. Raiding police officials told their families that they would just be detained for 24 hours to appease a number of Muslim fundamentalists, who had recently renewed the long-waged ideological assault on members of the Ahmadi, a minority sect of Islam (also known as the Qadiani). Members claim to be Muslim, but constitutionally are not recognised as pukka Muslims in Pakistan because they follow the “wrong” prophet.

Inspector Khalid Rauf, station head officer of Kot Sultan police station, Layyah district, said that police have still not initiated an investigation, and that the police do not know of any substantial evidence links the four students to the “crime”.

But after four hours in custody, charges were filed against all five under section 295-C, for desecrating the name of the “prophet”.

Family members were told that the police were under pressure from fundies to act against the five. The militants said that if the Ahmedis were not arrested, they would take matters into their own hands. They threatened to close down the whole city and attack the houses of Ahmedi sect members. Worried about civilian deaths, the police arrested and subsequently charged the five.