[12] The boy then took the bag to the imam of a local mosque,[12] Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti who accusing Masih of desecrating the Quran, gave police burned papers from the trash as evidence against her.
[13] On August 24 Chishti told AFP news service that he thought Rimsha had burned the pages deliberately as part of a Christian "conspiracy" to insult Muslims, and that action should have been taken sooner to stop what he called their "anti-Islam activities" in the area.
[21] On September 2, it was reported that a local imam, Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, had been arrested for desecrating the Quran himself and tampering with evidence.
[13] Police suspected he planting pages of religious texts in Rimsha's bag,[7][8][9][22][23] The next day, the chairman of the All Pakistan Ulema Council, Hafiz Mohammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi made a statement supporting her, describing her as a "daughter of the nation".
[26] Paul Bhatti, the Pakistani Minister for National Harmony, who had earlier stated his hopes that the case might help end the widespread abuse of the blasphemy laws,[27] expressed "joy and satisfaction" at the development.
Zubair and the two others, Mohammad Shahzad and Awais Ahmed, said they had urged Chishti not to interfere with the papers but he told them it was the only way to expel the Christians from the area.
[10] In June 2013, CBC News reported her and her family to be living at an undisclosed location in Canada,[31] where they were given permanent residency on "humanitarian and compassionate grounds".
[11] According to the Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney, a Pakistani contact asked him in January 2013 whether the family could come to Canada.