By Sheraz Khurram Khan
Special Correspondent for ASSIST News Service in PakistanTOBA TEK SINGH, PAKISTAN (ANS) – Fresh charges of blasphemy were slapped on five Christians, including an 11 year old boy, after the alleged worsening of a dispute between Christian and Muslim teens on a play ground in the district of Toba Tek Singh in Pubjab Province, Pakistan.

Fresh charges of blasphemy were slapped on five Christians, including an 11 year old boy, after the alleged worsening of a dispute between Christian and Muslim teens on a play ground in the district of Toba Tek Singh in Pubjab Province, Pakistan.The police arrested Salamat Masih, one of the five Christians accused of passing derogatory remarks against the Prophet Muhammad on Sunday, April 1, the Pakistan Christian Post (PCP) has reported.

The Police are launching raids to arrest the remaining four Christians named in the Police First Information Report (FIR), the story said.

“It was a minor dispute among Christian and Muslim teens on a playground as Daniel, an eleven year old son of Salamat Masih refused to play with two Muslim youths who became enraged and attacked him,” the PCP quoted the Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP) as saying.

It quoted one Abdul Ghaffar, a Muslim resident of TobaTek Singh as stating in the Police FIR that the Christian men intercepted his nephew Faisal when he was going to attend a religious procession that was being held in a nearby Madressha (Islamic Religious School) to mark the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad on Sunday, April 1.

According to the PCP report the Christians were accused of desecrating a sticker inscribed with captions that glorified Prophet Muhammad. It also quoted the complainant as saying in the Police FIR that armed Christians made forcible entry into his house and passed insulting remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

“The Christians had done nothing. It is totally a fabricated case against innocent Christians”, the Asia News quoted a Catholic Priest, Fr. Bonnie Mendis as saying.

The PCP report quoted the SLMP as saying that thousands of infuriated Muslims pelted the Christian colony with stones to vent their spleen against alleged blasphemy.

“The situation is very tense for Christians of the locality as Muslims are in power. This area is well known for Muslim militant groups. It is very much possible that Muslim extremists may attack churches any time”, the report quoted Nadeem, a Christian resident of the colony as telling the SLMP.

“The Christians ran to save their lives and some of them hid themselves in their houses but even then the Muslim extremists kept on hurling stones”, it quoted a woman activist Iram Gill as telling SLMP.

The report went on to say that the alarming situation forced closure of the missionary schools in the area. It said the Muslim students of the Degree College Toba Tek Singh had wanted to take out a rally but Police’s intervention failed their intent.

In the wake of the volatile situation it said the police have been deployed outside all Churches in the area to help avert any possible untoward eventuality.

Fearing trouble about five percent of the Christian residents of the colony have fled to safety, it said. It also cited the Christian residents’ mistrust in the local police.

“They are feeling very insecure. They are frightened”, the story concluded.