Chinese national taken into custody in Pakistan over blasphemy accusations

By Aamir Latif

KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - Pakistani police have taken a Chinese national into custody over alleged blasphemy, an official said on Monday.

The Chinese national, an engineer working at a hydropower project in the remote Kohistan district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which borders neighboring Afghanistan, was taken into custody on Sunday night after he was accused of blasphemy by laborers at the site, Tahir Ayub, the district police chief, told Anadolu over the phone.

A case has been registered against the accused, identified only by his surname Tian, and further investigations are underway, Ayub added.

The Chinese supervisor, according to the official police complaint, tried to push his local staff while they were collectively offering afternoon prayers at the worksite to speed up the pace of work instead.

"He repeatedly made insulting remarks and derogatory gestures to disparage Allah and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon Him)," the complaint said.

The alleged blasphemy led to protests as thousands of angry protesters blocked the Karakoram Highway, which connects Pakistan and China, for hours.

They only called off their protest on early Monday after the Chinese engineer was taken into custody.

A highly sensitive issue in the Muslim-majority country, blasphemy charges carry the death penalty in Pakistan, but many people have been killed by mobs without their cases ever making it to court.

In April 2021, a Sri Lankan manager of a factory in the northeastern Sialkot city was beaten to death and his body was burnt publicly by a mob on a blasphemy charge.

Rights groups believe that Pakistan’s blasphemy law is often used to settle personal scores against religious minorities, while its supporters contend that the law prevents vigilante action.

Currently, over 600 blasphemy cases are pending in Pakistani courts, more than 400 of which involve Muslims, according to official records.