So the witnesses who accused him have been threatened and he walks free after falsely accusing a young girl of blasphemy?...there is no justice in Pakistan and some imams are criminals...

Makes no sense. The cleric and Rimsha are both acquitted. So what was it all about? The cleric is not prosecuted for want of evidence but its a fact he accussed the girl for blasphemy. Either he is a blasphemer or its the girl.

In many countries u have injustice against minorties but only in an Islamic country is the this injustice legalised as the law of the land. This blasphemy law proves the majority of Muslims condone voilence against minorities.

Pakistani judiciary and the prosecution agencies merit full marks for letting the rogues off the hook.

Yes the taliban judiciary can never have enough evidence when mullahs and religious terrorists are involved - the verdict was never in doubt.

Shame on the judiciary and the government for letting this Kazib out!!

Very good judgement - We have not expected more than this from our judiciary. The judiciary reflect our society.

What a disgraceful outcome !

There was so much evidence to blame a mentally retarded girl but no evidence to convict the real culprit! What a mockery of justice? I am not surprised at the verdict! Did any one else too?

What a horrible system!. The imam blamed the girl and incited the public - should not there be punishment for that? The truth is that these judges are afraid and that is why they acquit criminals.

no body go to jail for their crimes. it is plan joke ,though lawyers and judges are being paid for.we call it democracy.

they let him go, what a shame?

It is my gut feeling that the Judge has cowed down due to life threat. These Mullah's can go to ant extent.

Who paid Rs. 200,000 for surety bond; a clerk cannot earn that money? Country is not being run by "democratically elected" people but by the Clerics & Army.

This is ridiculous and disappointing. Our legal system found enough evidence to put an innocent disabled girl behind bars and couldnt gather any evidence to punish the real culprit, what an irony!

It should have been mentioned in this article that it was the Mosque Muezzin statement to a magistrate that the Imam had tempered with the evidence which he saw while he was in atekaf.Which led to imams arrest.Can a statement given to a magistrate be withdrawn?Can the statement be considered as not evidence enough?

No surprises here. Completely expected outcome in a Islamic republic. what's with the Mehndi colored beard of the security guard in the photo? I fail to understand how that makes anyone look better. :-)

A sad country where people want to live in the dark ages. Whenever religion is used by people this will continue to happen. Pakistanis need to wake up and understand that they are their own worst enemies and they need to change their ways. It is no longer acceptable to be the "Silent "Majority". I am sure Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan are turning in their graves.

No matter what measures police take to catch crimnals and bring them to court for justice, the end result will be zero, crimnals are honourably out because witnesses fails to testitify before judge. Reason, crimnals have terrified witnesses by threats and killing them. With every passing day this perception and fear is increasing. Even very close relatives of the victims at the final moment back out to give evidence.Tthis is very bad situation. This will ultimately force police to go for extra judicial measures to deal with crimnals.Police has been demoralised. They are fighting for their lives. Beside other measures, it is necessary that witnesses are motivated to come forward for giving evidence. Since it is difficult to protect witnesses and their families, only way is to boost their courage and motivate them. Government should announce policy to compensate fully families of persons who loose life because of giving evidence. Their close relatives should be paid atleast fifty lacs rupees per head. This measure will discourage crimnals to kill witnesses, because they dont want welfare of victims family. Government will have to spend large amount for some time, but once cases of conviction increase the crime rate wil go down and so government expenses on witnesses Government should take case of witnesses seriosly.

Interesting...A minor girl gets thrown in jail with a possible life sentence on word of an hafiz and he get of free for burning Quran pages...He should have been given the same sentence as would have been given to a member of minority accused of blasphemy. When will the public and specially the judiciary wake up and start treating the minority as equal human beings.

Power of beard wins again. Witnesses, as they dont have any protection, backed out. Praise the Lord. Justice denied, another win for the weird "beardos".

A bad day for justice in Pakistan. Why is everyone so afraid to punish these offenders who claim to be "religious". The Holy Quran is very clear on the subject of false acquisitions. It is indeed people like these who have damaged the sanctity of our religion to the extent that a lot of Muslims have even started to have doubts. May Allah show us all the right path.

This is ridiculous, this man should be hung from the highest pole as an example for the others. Now he will go and establish a mosque in another locality and create more fitna.

Poor christian girl was in jail for crime not committed. Imam who framed her gets a bail and is acquitted. What a country!

such accusers should feel the same pain and fear for their lives.its a shame to be a citizen of a country where minorities canbe so easily blackmailed and lives destroyed in seconds. the law should be equal for all or else, just change it.

Poor Christian girl was jailed without a crime while Imama who framed her gets bail and acquitted. Where is justice?

another terror on the loose

It is a shame that a so called religious leader who planted false testimony, who knowingly desecrated Quran has been set free. We are the worst hypocrites. We were prepared to kill an innocent Christian girl on false accusations. Yet we fail to punish a leader who supposedly should know how to respect Quran and what Allah has said about those who fabricate evidence or give false testimony. This is a country where Salman Taseer's killer is hailed by lawyers and our judiciary fails to act against those so called lawyers. This is the country where ex Governor Salman Taseer's son was abducted many years ago and no action taken by government at all.

Allah hum ko aaysay Molvioon saa bacha. (Ameen)

is this call justice? cleric who himself tore the pages from the quran and accused a young Christian girl of blasphemy of tearing pages from the quran ecquitted - shame on the judiciary system in pakistan

IMAM must have to hang on death. NOBODY hv permit to disrespect the sacred book.

Shameless society and shameless judiciary ! I am sure if it was a member of minority religion they would have burnt the whole community down ! Wow ..What a country and what people

Shame on our judicial system and the prosecution for failing to bring behind bars this coward Imam who no doubt will look to persecute minorities in his area with zeal. The freeing of the Imam certainly rubber stamps the approval by the state of the persecution of minorities using the Huddod ordinance in the worng way.

The Cleric is released, but whom do you blame for the suffering of Rimsha and her family. This is no justice. Where can she find justice for what she has gone through. I hope people will speak up for Rimsha. SHE IS A HUMAN BEING AND DESERVES JUSTICE, EVEN THOUGH SHE BELONGS TO A MINORITY COMMUNNITY. JUSTICE IS NOT BLIND,LET US NOT DISPENSE IT AS SUCH.

Why are you still calling the culprit an Imam, he should be hanged as he tried to frame someone.

This man needs to be watched and barred from preaching in any mosque.

When the judicaial system repeatedly fails to deliver.........should it not be shut down ???

So.... if this Imam burnt the page of the holy Quran, why are there no protests to punish him like there were for Rimsha? Is it because she was Christian that she should be punished for this rumour, or is it because he is a Muslim Imam that he should be forgiven?

The cleric is acquitted for the want of charges but the 14yr old can be easily convicted on false charges. That is why the % of minority has come down from a double digit figure at the time of independence to around 4% now. A child reads from a tender age in his book on jihad when he should be taught the essential values of life. What else one can expect from that country. May Allah have mercy on the Pakistanis and shower his choicest blessing so that they can reign all over the world one day if He really wants the world that way. Ameen.

This is face of real Islam and justice of Islamic country.

This is a disgrace. The man should have been hanged, he is evil. What else is this fool going to do than propagate his sectarian agenda further against Pakistan and against the state. These people do not deserve to live in the protection of Pakistan we should dump them at the Wagah Border because they never believed in Pakistan so they have no business being resident in Pakistan.