Ooberfuse release single taking up the cause of Pakistani girl
LONDON-based electro-pop band Ooberfuse, together with Wizard MC from the
British Pakistani Christian Association (BPCA), have released a song,
"Turn The Tide", in protest against the latest victim of Pakistan's
black blasphemy laws. Following the advocacy work for victims of
Pakistan's "black" law, started by Punjabi Governor Salman Taseer
(gunned down by his own body-guard in January 2011) and Pakistan's
Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti (brutally murdered by Taliban
assassins in March 2011), "Turn The Tide" highlights the plight of
young Rimsha Masih arrested by the police, under pressure from a mob
at Mehrabadi village, on the outskirts of Islamabad. Ooberfuse frontwoman
Cherrie Anderson said, "Over the weekend we got a call from Wilson of
the BPCA alerting us to the events unfolding last Thursday (16th
August 2012) which culminated in Rimsha's arrest. She was persuaded to
take a sack full of rubbish to the dust-bin but, unbeknown to her, the
sack contained ash from burnt papers including fragments from the
Quran. In no time at all and with a few days remaining of the extended
Ramadan fast preceding the day-festival of Eid an enraged crowd had
gathered calling for her arrest and execution."