Pervaiz was arrested along with his entire family, including his mother, sisters, wife and children. They were taken to the Khadian Police station.

A team of Christian rights activists went to the prison to intervene in favour of the family, but they were also arrested. Finally, the family and the activists were released after thirteen hours; Pervaiz however is still being detained.

In the Stop Persecution of Christians, Hector Aleem shares the detailed story of the arrest:

“Pervaiz Masih got a contract to supply sand for a brick kiln in his area. However, two other Muslim men named Haji Jamshed and Haji Bashir wanted the contract of supplying sand. Pervaiz was an obstacle to their plan, which is why they accused him of blasphemy.

“After that, the Chief of the Village, Muhammad Khalid, asked an Islamic Cleric of the village to make an announcement over the Mosque loudspeaker against Christians. There are 400 homes in that village of which only fourteen are Christian homes. An announcement was made from the Mosque’s loudspeaker in which everyone was told from the village to burn the homes of all Christians in that area because the Christian, Pervaiz Masih had committed blasphemy.

“Police arrived at the scene and arrested Pervaiz and his whole family because they were under pressure from the angry mob, taking them to Kadian police station. Police also arrested our team members when they went to the police station to inquire why women and children were arrested. But thank God they were released after a period of thirteen hours along with the women and children from Pervaiz’s family. Right now, only Pervaiz is in Police custody.

“Here I would like to mention that Pervaiz Masih was charged under section 295 B (which carries 25 years in prison) and 295 C (which carries death penalty). And both of these offences are non-bailable. We were told that Police took Pervaiz to an unknown location.”

Source, photo: Stop Persecution of Christians Facebook group