Pak blasphemy accused moved to unknown area
12 Sep 2012 11:52 PM GMT
A young, mentally-challenged Christian girl accused of blasphemy has been moved from the police headquarters in the Pakistani capital to an undisclosed location for security reasons, days after she was granted bail in the controversial case that has sparked international concern.
14-year-old Rimsha Masih, who was granted bail by a court here on Friday, was moved from the Police Lines Headquarters to an undisclosed location within the country on Monday night, sources said on Tuesday. She and her family had been kept at the police headquarters after she was released from the high-security Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Tight security arrangements were made for transporting Rimsha to another city from the women's barracks at the police headquarters.
There was speculation on Monday night that Rimsha and her family would be flown out of Pakistan but Christian leader Paul Bhatti, Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Harmony, said the girl and her family had not left the country.
Bhatti told the media that Rimsha and her family had been moved to a ‘safe place selected by the authorities.’ A police officer said police had recorded two statements of the girl.
The first was recorded at a police station soon after she was arrested on 16 August and the second at Adiala Jail.
In the first statement, she admitted to burning some pages of a religious text but in the second she denied having done so, the unnamed officer was quoted as saying by Dawn newspaper. The officer said the investigation team will record another statement of the girl as some questions were unanswered, such as where she had got the polythene bag stuffed with pages of a religious text and why Malik Ammad, the man who accused Rimsha, was sitting near the drain outside her house when she reportedly took the bag to a garbage dump. Rimsha was released from jail on Saturday amidst high drama.
Footage on television showed armed policemen surrounding Rimsha as she was escorted to a helicopter and flown away from Adiala Jail.
Next Story
