KARACHI: A man accused of sending blasphemous text messages to another person was arrested in Mehmoodabad on Sunday.

Police said that Bashir Ahmed on December 16, 2011 lodged an FIR (700/2011) at the Surjani Town police station, complaining that Mohammad Zafar Zaidi aka Chaman Zaidi had been sending him blasphemous texts.

The FIR was registered under Sections 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc in respect of the Holy Prophet), 296 (disturbing religious assembly) and 298-A (use of derogatory remarks etc, in respect of holy personages) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

SHO Shabbir Awan of the Surjani Town police station said that the police sought the assistance of the Citizens-Police Liaison Committee in tracing the location of the cellphone the suspect used to send the texts.

On Sunday, the police with the assistance of a CPLC team raided the place and arrested the suspect, aged 62.

SHO Awan said the suspect told interrogators that he was associated with the publishing business and recently printed a book for a Muslim woman, Ms Yamna. He was quoted as saying that she did not pay him for the work and that he had sent ‘some texts’ to her and not to the complainant, Bashir Ahmed.

The suspect was in the custody of the Surjani Town police.

“Ms Yamna, on earlier occasions, also had lodged complaints against Chaman Zaidi at the CPLC who according to her had been harassing her,” said CPLC chief Ahmed Chinoy.

He added that in fact Bashir Ahmed had come to the CPLC and “we helped him lodge the FIR with the police”.

According to the CPLC chief, Chaman Zaidi had confessed that he had been sending “such types of text”.

When he was asked if he knew the consequences of sending such blasphemous texts, he replied in the affirmative and said “I will bear the consequences”, the CPLC chief told Dawn.