Pakistani Christian family flees from home following blasphemy accusations against teenage son

A Pakistani Christian family has fled from their home in Punjab province after their 16-year-old son was charged with blasphemy last week for talking with a colleague about his faith.

Shahzad Masih, a cleaner at a hospital in the city of Dinga, was arrested on July 13 after he was accused by his colleague, Ishtiaq Ahmed Jalali, of insulting Islam's prophet Muhammad, according to World Watch Monitor.

"We left the city same evening the clerics captured him," Shfaaqt Masih, the father of the teenager, told UCA News. "I switched off my phone fearing they will trace my family," he added.

Shfaaqt said that the local police station will not disclose where the teenager is being held. "My relatives even visited the jail but he is not there. We don't know what to do," he said.

Former Punjab parliamentarian Tahir Naveed Chaudhry, the leader of the largest Christian political party, said that he had personally investigated the matter, and he found out that the argument stemmed from Jalali's attempts to convert Shahzad to Islam.

The police complaint against Shahzad was reportedly filed by another man identified as Nadeem Ahmed, who claimed to have called the accused from his mobile phone repair shop to ask him about what he had said. Ahmed further claimed that Shahzad repeated the "abusive words" against Muhammad and then fled.

According to UCA News, activists from the Islamist party Tehreek-e-Tuhafaz Islam Pakistan took Shahzad to an Islamic seminary, where he was arrested by the police.

Shfaaqt noted that he and his family has been on the run since Shahzad was arrested. "We don't even know what to eat and where to live," he said.

Several Christian NGO's have offered to help the family, including Minority Rights Watch, which plans to provide legal support.

"An assistant sub inspector lodged the FIR though law clearly states that no police officer below the rank of superintendent can investigate cases involving derogatory remarks in respect to the Prophet," said Kashif Nawab, a patron of the group.

"The government should also establish a committee of religious leaders and police to probe and handle such issues," he added.

Both church and civil society have called for a repeal of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, claiming that the measures are being used to settle personal scores and persecute religious minorities.

The Human Rights Commission reported that 15 people — 10 Muslims and five non-Muslims — have been charged with blasphemy last year.

Blasphemy against Muhammad is punishable by death, but the state has not carried out an execution on anyone found guilty of the supposed crime. However, several people accused of blasphemy have been killed before their trial ended.