Haroon Shehzad, a Christian man, aged about 49 years old was held accused of Blasphemy on 30th June 2023. He shared a post of the text from 1st Corinthians chapter 10: 18-22 on 27th June 2023 two days before Eid-Ul-Azha.  

The Complainant, namely Imran Ullah Sargodha, is also residing in the same village, and is often aggrieved with the strong social status of the accused/victim. He saw the post and connected it maliciously to the Eid's essence of Sacrifice. Tensions flared up in the Chak 49 (Shumali)North village on Friday after Imran Ullah instigated the villagers and started announcement in the different mosques about the blasphemous actions of the Christians. 

"Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons. Are we trying to arouse the Lord's jealousy? Are we stronger than he?" 

Dozens of Christian families fled their homes in a village near Sargodha city after Haroon was accused of blasphemy for sharing a verse from the Bible on Facebook. Though Shahzad's post contained no personal comment related to the Muslim holy festival of Eid Ul Adha, which was celebrated worldwide on June 29-July 1. The family of the victim left the village. Both the victim's parents are paralyzed, and two sisters-in-law were arrested by the police. The paralyzed parents were left behind in the house by themselves. The rest of the family was scattered and had nowhere to go. 

The Voice was contacted by the family of the Victim, and they requested help. The Voice team reached the village around 5:00 pm on the same day of the registration of FIR and secured the victim and the family. The Voice team kept the victim secure and took him to court safely for his pre-arrest bail. On Monday 3rd of July 2023, Haroon Shehzad's pre-arrest (bail before arrest) was granted by the Court of Additional Sessions Judge Sargodha, and later when Haroon went to the police station to join the investigation and record his statement the Police arrested Haroon and took him into illegal custody in the name of safekeeping. The Voice team asked the police to hand him over to the Voice team and we will take responsibility of producing him in the investigation. But the police have their own ulterior motives and they refused to give the legal custody of Haroon Shahzad to his family or to the Voice team instead they threaten us and held us responsible for the riots in the village.  

The Voice talked to the District Police officer about the illegal act of the police but he did not support the Voice and said that it is in the interest of the safety of the Victim/accused. Instead, he said that The Voice's actions of going into the bail process have made things difficult. 

On the date of the hearing, 11th July 2023, as The Voice legal team reached the court, there were about 150 clerics and people present in the court raising slogans against The Voice lawyers and Haroon Masih. The situation was incredibly getting out of hand; the Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) instantly cancelled the bail without hearing the arguments. As the court was very pressurized and there were security threats, The ASJ and The Voice team left the court immediately before we got surrounded and lynched.  

The Voice lawyers then filed the Post arrest bail for Haroon Masih in the Lahore High Court, in which the date was fixed on 6th November 2023. On 6th November, the case was heard and after hearing the arguments of both parties the Court granted bail to Haroon Masih. It was an incredible victory, and we felt grateful and blessed to be heard and given justice on this very first hearing. However, the police have held Haroon accused and guilty of the offence and opposed the case in all ways possible. 

The police are biased and not only in this case, but they are also always biased towards Christians. There are thousands of cases pending in the courts and in the police stations against the inhumane behavior, torture, and injustice of police towards Christian citizens and yet, they expect trust from the Christian citizens of Pakistan.  

The release of Haroon Masih will be possible after the orders are sent to the Sargodha jail and surety is paid. This will take another week or so. But the main concern is of the security of Haroon and his family because it will be very threatening and dangerous for Haroon to stay in the same area along with his family. The Voice is looking to the options of relocating Haroon Masih to somewhere safe until his trial is pending. We need lots of prayers as Haroon Masih's life will be in severe threats after being released by the court. Please keep the Voice team and Haroon Masih and his family in your prayers. I will keep you posted about it with each step.