Pakistan Detains Chinese National Over Qur’an Desecration

Islamabad, May 19, IRNA -- A Chinese national has been taken into protective custody in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir after he was accused of desecrating the Holy Qur’an, officials said Saturday. The man, introduced as Lee, works for a Chinese consortium that is building a dam in Kashmir. A police official said that Lee was taken into protective custody so that no one could harm him as hundreds of people had protested against him. The police have formed a committee of police, politicians, religious scholars and journalists to investigate the case, an official said. The police have not yet registered a case, saying they will wait for the committee’s report. This is the first time a foreigner has been accused of desecrating holy Qur’an under Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Police said the incident was reported to the police after the Chinese had developed a dispute with a doctor in Muzaffrabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. An official in Pakistani Kashmir, Ansar Yaqoob, said that Lee had asked Sajjad, who was also working for the Chinese company, to shift to the room of laborers but he refused to shift there. Then the Chinese national with the help of other employees threw his luggage out when Sajjad was not at room. Later Sajjad told the local employees that Qur’an and other religious books were also thrown out in his items. Police said that the employees were angry and later people from nearby areas also arrived there and protested against the incident. Witnesses said that the angry locals also pelted stone at the office of Chinese nationals and damaged glasses and several vehicles./end