Pakistan: Christian accused of blasphemy because she refused to sell her business

A 34-year-old Christian woman, Gulzar Kanwal, was “accused of blasphemy” on March 1, 2010, in Wandu, a village in the Gujranawala district of Pakistan’s Punjab state, when she refused to sell her cosmetics shop to aspiring Muslim shop owners in the market. Some 400 Christian families reside in Wandu.

According to local sources, Gulzar Kanwal owned a cosmetic shop that was popular especially with the women of Wandu because she was the only female owner of such a business in Wandu.

Kanwal and her business piqued the ire of  the local Muslim shopkeepers, since she is a woman and successful at her trade. They started making persistent demands on Kanwal to sell her shop to them.

On March 1, Haji Ahsan - a Muslim shop owner - asked Kanwal if she was interested in selling her shop to Muhammad Bashir - another Muslim shopkeeper. Kanwal responsed that she was not interested in selling her shop.

According to local reports, Muslim shop owners, Muhammad Bashir, Muhammad Hafeez Salman and Maqsood Boota, gave Kanwal’s refusal a religious tinge and accused her of “committing blasphemy” against the prophet Muhammad.

As the word got out, hundreds of local Muslims gathered in front of Kanwal’s shop, shouting slogans against the alleged "blasphemer”.

The angry mob hurled obscenities at the “blasphemer” and attempted to beat her, so police officials from the Wandu police station near the market came to rescue her.

Samiullah Khan, the Station House Officer (SHO) of the Wandu Police Station said “situation would have been out of control if he had not immediately arrived at the scene of incident”.

All parties were summoned to the police station for an investigation and a police investigation proved Kanwal’s innocence.

The police found Kanwal guiltless of making blasphemous remarks against the prophet Muhammad as Haji Ahsan, who had conveyed the purchase offer in the first place, swore in front of the Station House Officer of the Wandu Police Station that Kanwal had not committed blasphemy but had only refused to sell her shop.

Kanwal’s brother-in-law, Pastor Mansab said that Kanwal was the only breadwinner of the family.

According to local sources, Kanwal "is stressed and uncertain about her future as she cannot imagine reopening her shop because of death threats that have been directed at her after she was accused of committing blasphemy,”

According to Pastor Mansa, Muhammad Bashir has been badgering Kanwal over the last two years.