Pakistan: Blasphemy allegations against girls’ school termed conspiracy

DAILY TIMES

Teachers, students, their parents and residents of Ravi Road area on Thursday condemned the attack on Farooqi Girls High School and termed allegations of blasphemy against the school a “controversy”. Carrying placards and shouting slogans against violence, hundreds of girl students protested outside Lahore Press Club against Tuesday’s mob attack on the school. They urged government high-ups, clerics and residents of the area to let their school reopen. The placards read “Release Principal Sir Asim”, “Release our spiritual father”, “CJ take suo motu notice”, “Attack on our school is a conspiracy”, “We have the right to education” and “We are also lovers of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)”. The students also showed the torn book which their teacher had used while preparing the content in question. Famous for producing good results in matriculation examinations, Farooqi Girls High School was caught in a controversy after its teacher of class 6 handed out an assignment to students carrying “blasphemous” content. An angry mob attacked and set the school on fire on Tuesday while an FIR was also registered against Asim Farooqi, owner and principal of the school. However, the protesting students claimed that a conspiracy had been hatched against the school for its excellent performance and progress. Talking to Daily Times, they said they had been given Islamic teachings at the school and its administration had nothing to do with blasphemy. They requested the chief justice of Pakistan to take suo motu of the controversy and order steps for early reopening of their school. Fatima, mother of a student, said the mob attacked the school without probing the blasphemy allegations. “Had the protesters let police complete investigation, things would have been different,” Fatima said. “I myself was shocked when I read the content in question. But I calmed down after I came to know that the torn page of the book led the teacher to write wrong lines,” she said. Another student said that girls in Pakistan would suffer due to this incident. She compared the ransacking of school with the last month’s attack on education icon Malala Yousufzai.