Two weeks ago a young Christian girl, Rimsha Masih was detained in Pakistan near the capital Islamabad.
兩周前,一名年輕的基督教女孩里姆沙·馬希赫在巴基斯坦首都伊斯蘭馬巴德附近被捕。
The girl who is in her early teens and is said to have learning difficulties
據說這名少女患有學習障礙,
was taken into custody after angry mobs alleged the she had burnt or desecrated pages inscribed with verses from the Qur'an.
憤怒的暴民聲稱她焚燒了一部《古蘭經》的經文,褻瀆了上帝。之后她遭到拘留。
In Pakistan, such allegations often fall under the umbrella of the country's blasphemy laws
在巴基斯坦,在瀆神法律保護傘的庇護下,
resulting in calls for draconian punishments against Christians and other minorities.
穆斯林教徒常常指控基督教徒和其他非主流派別的教徒褻瀆上帝。
The strange twist to this case however came at the weekend
不過,本起事件在上周末遇到了意想不到的轉機,
when a Muslim cleric, Khalid Chishti was accused and later arrested for implanting burnt pages of the Qur'an himself in the girl's bag
一位名叫哈立德·奇什蒂的穆斯林牧師遭到逮捕,是他把被燒毀的經書放到了女孩的包里。
because as one witness says, he wanted to expel the Christian community from the locality.
有目擊者稱,他想把基督教徒從當地驅逐出去。
The subsequent response by other Muslim clerics calling for justice for the girl
其他穆斯林牧師紛紛站出,為這位女孩主持公道,
is almost unprecedented in a country infamous for extremism and religious intolerance.
在以極端主義猖獗和缺乏宗教包容聞名的國家中,這樣的現象實屬罕見。
We in the West are unfortunately used to hearing such stories from Pakistan,
遺憾的是,我們西方人常聽說在巴基斯坦發生類似事件。
a situation made worse when often those who try to challenge the brutality of the blasphemy laws are killed or assassinated for speaking out.
每當有人因試圖反抗瀆神法的殘酷暴行而慘遭殺害,當地的局勢就變得更加險惡。
We can't understand how such societies show a lack of compassion and allow for the abuse of human rights all in the name of God's law.
怎么會有人打著上帝的名義去濫用人權,做出冷酷無情行徑,這實在讓人費解。
We are right to speak out and we are right to use the rhetoric of human dignity and fairness for all.
我們有權發表見解,有權擁有尊嚴,有權享受平等待遇,
But we must also bear in mind that we're not dealing with competing interests here.
但我們同時也要銘記,我們不應利用這些權利去謀求個人利益。
Here, in the West, we now live with intellectual and personal freedoms
在西方社會,人人都能各抒己見,暢所欲言,
where freedom of expression ensures that conflict and disagreement on all kinds of matters is rarely met with violence.
但遇到分歧時,我們絕不以暴力相向。
Freedom of conscience for all may remain a contested issue but there are systems in place which allow for voices to be heard.
宗教自由可能是一個長期存在爭議的話題,不過人們有權發表自己的觀點。
Religious faith is rarely a matter of religious persecution, but in a country where communities clash on the smallest of issues,
宗教信仰不是宗教迫害,但在一個分崩離析的國家里,
where many face a daily struggle for food, shelter, basic securities and education, a just cause is often a lost cause.
當人們食不果腹,無家可歸,得不到基本的生活保障,無法受到教育時,是沒有公平可言的。
It is the mark of a civilised society when it uses all in its power to help its most vulnerable citizens.
在文明社會中,人們會盡全力幫助弱勢群體。
Rimsha's case is less about communities and mob justice and more about Pakistan's commitment to courageous leadership.
里姆沙事件的發生雖然反映了當地的暴民政治,但更多的反映出了巴基斯坦領導人的勇敢決策。
Unless those in power, in government and in the legal profession are willing to take a collective stand for what is right in the name of humanity
如果這些執法掌權者沒有共同維護人權,
not in the name of religious laws, Pakistan will face disillusionment by the international community.
而是宣揚宗教法律,巴基斯坦將受到國際社會的警醒。
Human rights for all isn't an embattled cliche of the last 50 years
過去50年來,人權并不是我們一再提及的陳詞濫調,
but remains a universal struggle often highlighted by the plight of a single individual
而是全世界人民的奮斗目標,這一目標在我們身處困境時猶為重要。
and in our age of instant global communication, no country can hide either the individual or the injustice from the rest of the world.
在這個全球信息化時代,沒有哪個國家能掩蓋個人行為或者任何不公平的現象。