Police detain pastor in Lahore for allegedly desecrating Quran

A pastor in Lahore, Pakistan has been arrested by the authorities after he was accused of desecrating pages of the Quran.

Pastor Babu Shehbaz, who hails from Kamaha, Lahore, was booked by the police on Tuesday despite the lack of witnesses, Christians in Pakistan reported.

According to an activist named Muhammad Jibran Nasir, the complainant, Haji Nadeem, came across torn pages of the Quran with the name of Pastor Shahbaz Babu written on them.

Nadeem told the police that he did not witness Shehbaz desecrating the Quran and said that he was unsure if the pastor really committed the crime. He also said that there were no other eyewitnesses.

"In simple terms the complainant's story is that a Christian man desecrated the Quran while hidden from everyone's eyes and then he left evidence by writing his name on the torn pages so that he could be caught later," Nasir stated, according to a separate report from Christians in Pakistan.

Nadeem claimed that there might be a conspiracy plot against Shehbaz. He noted that there is a dispute between two Christian groups over the ownership of a local church.

Shehbaz has been booked under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted. Activists have claimed that the police arrested him out of pressure, and it was not in line with legal procedures.

Over 100 people are accused of blasphemy and jailed in Pakistan each year. Many of them belong to the Christian community and other minorities. Critics have noted that the law is often invoked in personal disputes.

On Wednesday, the police arrested 150 Muslim activists who participated at a rally in favor of the country's blasphemy law.

Lahore Deputy Inspector General of Police Haider Ashraf said that the activists were members of Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah, a coalition of Islamist groups who were planning an attack on people who are commemorating the anniversary of the assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer.

Taseer was shot by his own bodyguard six years ago after he came out in support of a Christian who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law.

Although no one has been executed yet, at least 65 people have been killed in connection to blasphemy cases since 1990, according to the Centre for Research and Security Studies and a Reuters tally.