Chinese man accused of blasphemy in Pakistan taken into custody
A courtroom docket in Pakistan has ordered a Chinese countrywide accused of blasphemy to be remanded into judicial custody for 2 weeks, police say.
The man, recognized simplest as Mr Tian withinside the professional police complaint, denied the accusation levelled with the aid of using his co-employees for the duration of his courtroom docket look withinside the town of Abbotabad on Monday evening.
Tahir Ayub, a nearby police professional, showed to Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the accused became taken into custody as government look at the incident.
Blasphemy is a touchy situation in Pakistan, a Muslim-majority u . s . wherein the ones located responsible can be given the demise penalty for sure styles of the crime.
The Chinese countrywide, who works as head of heavy delivery at a first-rate hydropower assignment, became accused on April 15 of insulting Prophet Muhammad for allegedly urging employees to hurry up their tempo of labor as they took a prayer break.
The Dasu hydropower assignment withinside the Kohistan district of northwestern Pakistan`s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is being constructed with the aid of using the China Gezhouba Group Company.
The police file into the incident stated the person made insulting feedback and gestures criticising God and Muhammad.
The allegation brought on a huge protest with the aid of using citizens who blocked the Karakoram Highway, which hyperlinks Pakistan to China, and demanded the arrest of the accused.
Naseeruddin Khan, a police professional in Dasu, stated an research group has been shaped to set up the facts.
“We are speakme to the accused`s interpreter, who made the accusations, in addition to different protesters,” Khan informed Al Jazeera.
He stated the paintings at the hydropower assignment maintains with none issues.
The Chinese embassy in Islamabad has but to touch upon the case, however a spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Tuesday that it is “verifying the information.”
“The Chinese authorities usually asks Chinese nationals remote places to abide with the aid of using legal guidelines and rules of the host international locations and admire nearby customs and traditions,” Wang Wenbin stated for the duration of a information conference. “If the incident entails Chinese nationals, our embassy will offer consular safety and help in the purview of its duty.”
While Pakistan has in no way formally accomplished every body dealing with blasphemy charges, severa humans over time had been lynched with the aid of using outraged people and mobs over such allegations or for expressing competition to the cruel legal guidelines. Since 1990, extra than eighty humans had been killed in such violence.
In 2021, a Sri Lankan manufacturing unit supervisor became overwhelmed to demise in Sialkot, a town withinside the principal province of Punjab, with the aid of using his co-employees who accused him of committing blasphemy.
In 2011, the previous governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, became shot lifeless with the aid of using his very own safety employees for expressing help for a lady accused of blasphemy. Three years later, human rights legal professional Rashid Rehman became killed for representing a college professor accused of creating blasphemous comments.
China is one in all Pakistan`s crucial allies and the 2 international locations are taking part on a $60bn infrastructure assignment called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
In latest years, there was a developing variety of assaults towards Chinese nationals in Pakistan with Beijing time and again asking Pakistani government to make sure safety for its residents and Chinese centers withinside the u . s ..
The Dasu hydropower assignment itself has confronted delays withinside the past.
At least thirteen personnel operating at the site, along with 9 Chinese residents, had been killed in a suicide bombing in 2021. The assault caused the suspension of labor at the assignment for 6 months.
This month, a hearthplace ripped thru the garage camp on the site.
