Author: AFP
Publication: The Times of India
Date: August 21, 2012
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/Blasphemy-case-Christians-flee-Islamabad-slum/articleshow/15576954.cms

Muslim anger over the alleged incident of a Christian girl with Down's Syndrome burning pages inscribed with verses from the Quran has forced Christians to flee the Mehrabad slum, home to hundreds of Christians and 20 minutes' drive from Western embassies.

 Pakistan's president Asif Ali zardari on Monday called on officials to explain the arrest of the girl on blasphemy charges.

 There is a growing debate about religious intolerance in Pakistan, where strict anti-blasphemy laws make defaming Islam or desecrating the Quran punishable by death.

 Police said the girl, Rimsha, was arrested in a low-income neighbourhood of the capital on last Thursday and remanded in custody for 14 days after furious Muslims demanded she be punished. Police said the girl was in her teens. Activists say she is 11 years old.

 Zardari took "serious note" of the arrest and called on the interior ministry to submit a report on the case, state media said. His government has been heavily criticized in the West for refusing to reform the anti-blasphemy law, despite the assassinations of a leading politician and a Christian cabinet minister who spoke out against the law in 2011.