Daily Bible Verses

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Christians clashed with security forces
Wednesday at the funeral of a Christian man who police said
hanged himself in jail while being held on accusations he
defiled the Quran. Some Christian leaders alleged he was
murdered by Police. The clashes, just weeks after eight
Christians were burned to death by a Muslim mob, are a reminder
of the tensions simmering in religious minority communities
in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where a spreading Taliban movement
has fueled extremism. Fanish Masih was found dead Tuesday
in his cell in Sialkot, a town in Punjab province. Jail
superintendent Farooq Lodhi said the 19-year-old hanged himself
using the string that held up his pants. The National
Commission for Justice and Peace, a Catholic-led advocacy
group in Pakistan, called the death an extra-judicial murder
and demanded an investigation. Lodhi denied any crime had been
committed, adding that an autopsy was being conducted. Those
who say he was killed in the jail are in fact trying to create
unrest and confrontation between Muslims and Christians, he said.
According to the National Commission for Justice and Peace,
Masih was accused of throwing a chapter of the Quran down a drain
last week in Jatheki village. Muslims in the village near Sialkot
responded by burning a church, and Masih was arrested the
following day. About 700 people attended Masihs funeral.
Dozens of younger mourners began tossing stones at nearby police,
who reacted by beating the protesters with batons and firing tear
gas into the crowd, an Associated Press photographer at the
scene in Sialkot said. Nelson Azeem, a Christian lawmaker from
Sialkot, said he did not know how Masih died but said many
people in the community were suspicious. No matter how he died,
he said, it was the responsibility of the jail staff to protect
his life as he was facing a serious charge. Minority and human
rights activists staged protests Tuesday in the eastern city of
Lahore after word of Masihs death, with some carrying posters
calling it a murder. Non-Muslims make up less than 5 per cent
of Pakistans 175 million people. They are especially vulnerable
to anti-blasphemy laws that carry the death penalty for
derogatory remarks or any other action against Islam, the
Quran or the Prophet Muhammad. Anyone can make an accusation
under the rules, and they often are used to settle personal
scores and rivalries.