Pakistani Christians, Fearing Backlash, Flee Community after Girl Is Accused of Blasphemy
Christians are fleeing their homes outside Pakistan’s capital “after a mob last week called for [a 12-year-old girl] to be burned to death as a blasphemer,” Richard Leiby reports for The Washington Post. Some accuse the girl of burning pages of the Quran, “but police said they arrested her in part to assuage the mob and also because they knew she would be safer in jail,” Leiby writes. “Blasphemy by anyone cannot be condoned, but no one will be allowed to misuse the blasphemy law for settling personal scores,” says Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari.