Pakistan leader seeks report on girl's blasphemy case

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan's president on Monday called on officials to explain the arrest on blasphemy charges of a Christian girl with Down's Syndrome who allegedly burnt pages inscribed with verses from the Quran.

There is a growing debate about religious intolerance in Pakistan, where strict anti-blasphemy laws make defaming Islam or desecrating the Quran punishable by death.

Police said the girl, Rimsha, was arrested in a Christian slum of the capital last Thursday and remanded in custody for 14 days after a furious Muslim mob demanded she be punished.

A police official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said the girl was in her teens. Activists say she is 11 years old. President Asif Ali Zardari took "serious note" of the arrest and called on the interior ministry to submit a report on the case, state media said.