.... With the charged emotions around blasphemy, once accused, it is virtually impossible to ever be safe afterwards, even if the court clears your name. Like the era of European witch trials, Pakistan is going through its darkest phase.
If she is lucky, the accused teacher will be able to find asylum out of Pakistan. Asim's father, now sleeping on the floor of a jail cell, will have to cope with the fact that all the effort that he and his wife poured in for those past 34 years is gone.
And Asim – one of Pakistan's brightest gems – must be wondering if he will ever feel safe in a country where he shared his love for astronomy with so many people.
[A COMMENT] When you get a school burned to the ground for the sake of a typographical error you know the place is in big trouble. This has nothing to do with the USA, foreign intervention, or anything else.
There is something deeply, deeply, wrong with the culture of Pakistan and the wider culture of islam. It is as plain as the nose on your face, yet many western "liberals" will bend over backwards to "understand" behaviour they would never tolerate at home.
[ANOTHER COMMENT] "The burning of the school is probably about a clash between the upwardly mobile, educated middle class and the frustrated, poor and uneducated lower class. "
Yes, and there are similar class conflicts in other countries. The shooting children in the head, killing them with acid, arresting disabled children and arson is an exclusively Islamic response. [Guardian Cif] Read more
