The up to date of cases from 1999 to 2001. 2001. * April 1, Christian teacher Pervez Masih was arrested on charges of blasphemy. Mr. Masih, who ran his own high school in Chailayke village, Sialkot district, was accused of uttering blasphemous remarks against Muhammad during tutoring sessions with three former students. It is believed that the teacher of a rival high school has implicated Mr. Masih falsely in order to force the school to close and gain the business for him. Parvez Mash has been refused bail by the district session courts Sialkot. Now the family of Parvez Masih has moved his bail application to Lahore High Courts. * (See the interview of Parvez Mash, recorded by Pakistan Christian Post correspondent from district jail Sialkot in June 20001, archives of PCP front line news) * March 11, Islamic extremists threatened the families of two men helping to support 8 Christian girls who were raped in May of 2000. Pastor Fareed Masih and Ashiq Masih were not present at the time that the extremists forcibly entered their homes and assaulted their family members, including Pastor Fareed's mother. The group left a message for the two men, saying that if they did not stop supporting the Christian girls, they would be killed. * February 11, Maqsood Ahmed Shiekh, along with a number of other Islamic extremists, kidnapped 14-year-old Naira Nadia from her home in Mariam-a-bad, Shiekhupura district. Mr. Shiekh was angered that Naira had dared to share her faith in Jesus Christ with her schoolmates, including Mr. Shiekh's daughter. Thus, Mr. Shiekh and his armed companions kidnapped and brutally raped the young girl. She is being held in an undisclosed location. * January 25, the Lahore High Court acquitted Three Christians accused of blasphemy in 1998. Hussain Masih, Isaac Masih and Iqbal Sehar Ghauri were accused of desecrating the Quran and uttering derogatory statements about the Prophet Muhammad on November 25, 1998. A Muslim neighbor had filed a complaint against the men after he supposedly found torn pages of the Qumran and derogatory remarks written on a piece of paper in his lawn. The court acquitted the men after finding that there was no concrete evidence against the accused. The Muslim neighbor, Ejaz Ahmad, Muslim neighbor lodged the complaint. * January 19, After 8 days in prison Khalid Masih and Nasir Masih were both freed when the other Christians in their group paid Rs. 60,000 bail. Both reported being beaten during their detention. All 8-group members are scheduled to stand trial on January 30, 2001. * On January 11, Local Muslims leaders complained about a group of 8 Christians distributing Christian literature and copies of the Jesus film in Jacobabad, Sindh. Khalid Masih and Nasir Masih were arrested on the charge that their materials were anti-Islamic and constituted blasphemy. Shortly afterwards residents reportedly held protests calling for the arrest of Pastor Yousaf Masih and Bruener Newton, the principal of Victor Public Secondary School. The two men were accused of being part of the Christian literature distribution. Principal Newton was also accused of distributing anti-Islamic materials in his school. 2000. * October 25,Ulema, in Lakki Marwat chased two men for distributing Christian literature. Qais Masih and Suleman Masih were subsequently taken to the police station where the ulema accused them of blasphemy. The two were released the next day after protests from various Christian advocates. Police said that preaching another religion was not illegal under the Islamic blasphemy laws. On December 1, Suleman Masih was arrested again for preaching Christianity, this time in the city of Mardan. He was released on bail. At his final hearing it was ruled that he could remain free as long as did not re-enter Mardan. * August, the village landlord in Shiekhupura District publicly beat A Christian husband and wife. The woman was stripped naked and had her head shaved. * August, Shafik Masih was released from prison after it was proven that the charges against him were fabricated. on October 16, Shafik Masih was sentenced to 8 years in prison. Originally he received a death sentence, but this was reduced when the charges were changed from "blasphemy against Mohammed" to "offenses against Islam." These so-called offenses took place in May of 1998 when Shafik turned off the electricity of a Muslim man who refused to pay for it. * July 15, Once again bowing under the pressure of Muslim religious political parties, Pakistan's military ruler, Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf, signed Provisional Constitution Order (PCO) 2000, which reinstates parts of Pakistan's suspended Constitution. Musharraf also made several amendments to the Constitution while establishing the Sharia court as the supreme court of the land, thus making Islam the sole, supreme religion of the land. He also added a new amendment differentiating Muslims from Non-Muslims by defining them as two distinct groups under the Constitution. These moves will only worsen the religious apartheid that already exists in Pakistan and reinforces the already misused blasphemy laws. * June, A 16-year-old housemaid was tortured to death when her boss, a local political figure, pressed a hot iron to her genitals. The girl had been falsely accused of stealing a ring. * May 11, Rasheed and Saleem Masih were sentenced to 35 years in prison under blasphemy Law 295 (c) after supposedly uttering "bad remarks" against Islam and Mohammed. * May 6, another case of persecution against Christians occurred near Lahore where eight Christian girls were gang raped by Muslims. The girls were returning home from work at the Lavaira Stitching Company when the van in which they rode was stopped and the girls were forcefully removed from the vehicle. Muslim women in the van were unharmed, proving that the incident was motivated by religious hatred. The manager of the stitching company tried to suppress details of the incident by bribing the girls' families. When the episode was published in the newspaper, the manager retaliated by firing sixty Christian workers. * May 2, Kungri Masih, was arrested and officially charged under section 295 (c) PPC in District Jail, Faisal Abad.on March 17, Augustine Ashiq Masih (alias Kungri Masih) was meeting with Christian relatives when he was attacked and severely beaten by a Muslim fanatic group. Kungri had been coerced to convert to Islam, but later reconverted to Christianity and attended church services with family members. The Muslim community subsequently turned against him and charged him with blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam. * April-May, On April 21, Chief Executive Pervez Musharraf announced a procedural amendment to the country's blasphemy law in order to prevent its misuse by Islamic extremists. The decision was later revoked after various fundamentalist Muslims protested and condemned the amendment. This incident demonstrates the amount of political power wielded by militant Muslims over Pakistan's government. * February, both the master of the house and local police tortured A Christian housemaid from Lahore. She was accused of theft. * January, A woman accused of desecrating the Koran was burned to death by a Muslim extremist. 1999. * October 22, A Roman Catholic Church in Lahore was set on fire. Parts of the church were saved, but Bibles, crosses and various furniture was destroyed. The culprit, Sayed Ahmed, said he burned the church to protest against the US and Christians. * October, Christian pastor Ejaz Masih was shot to death by a Muslim youth when he answered the front door. * October, A Magistrate in Rawalpindi held that Christian parents could not retain custody of their daughters, who had supposedly converted to Islam. The 15, 13, and 11-year-old girls were placed with a Muslim family. * October, police occupied A Christian girl's school in Lahore. They forced the girls out of the building and threw their belongings in the street. * May 29, Maqsood Ahmed, a Muslim ice-cream vendor, refused to sell ice cream to Christians Saleem and Rasheed Masih. Soon thereafter, the vendor accused the two Christians of insulting Islam. Police then arrested them on blasphemy charges. * Prisoners: The following Christian prisoners are being held under law 295(c) for supposedly blaspheming the prophet Mohammed and/or the religion of Islam. * Ayub Masih - has been in prison since October of 1996 under the conviction of blasphemy, stemming from charges that Ayub told a Muslim man to read Salman Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses. Ayub has been on death row since April 1998. Since his initial arrest, Muslim prisoners have made at least two attempts on his life.