Furious 200-strong mob ransack Lahore's leading girls' school after a female teacher 'set blasphemous homework'

PUBLISHED: 16:45 EST, 2 November 2012 | UPDATED: 16:45 EST, 2 November 2012

More than 200 furious protestors ransacked a leading girls' school in Lahore this week after claims that a teacher insulted the Prophet Muhammad.

The angry mob descended on Farooqi Girls' High School, set fire to furniture and burnt out the head teacher’s car on Wednesday. And, on the wall of the building, the mob graffitied: 'School management are blasphemers.'

The Islamic hardliners became incensed after a teacher at the prestigious private school allegedly made a mistake while copying Islamic text from an exercise book and then distributed the text to her students.

Protest: The mob burnt Farooqi Girls' High School's furniture and burnt out the headteacher's car afterclaims that a teacher insulted the Prophet Muhammad

The protestors reportedly were mainly teenagers and travelled in from outside Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan.

An inquiry has now been set up to investigate the destruction of the school, parts of which were left in ruins after the attack.

Police used batons to control the protestors as firefighters worked to put out blazes on Wednesday.

The teacher was in hiding today but the school’s 77-year-old principal has been arrested and remains in police custody.

Meanwhile, the school’s management have today denied all responsibility for the ‘dirty act’ and called for the teacher, Arfa Iftikhar, to be punished.

Blasphemy: Crowds of locals gather to after a angry mob ransacked the prestigious girls' school in Lahore on Wednesday

Ms Iftikhar allegedly set homework - for her students to do during Eid holidays from 26 to 29 October - which supposedly made derogatory references to the Prophet Mohammad.

Today, the school took out front page adverts in two leading newspapers denying that it had any knowledge of the alleged insults to the Prophet.

The adverts claimed that Ms Iftikhar had distributed the work just 10 minutes before the school closed for the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Translated from Urdu, the advertisement read: ‘Our school management and the owners have no link whatsoever with this dirty act.’

‘We appeal to the government and the police to take legal action against this teacher and investigate her real motive.’

According to the AFP, a search has been launched for Ms Iftikhar and Asim Farooqi, the school’s headmaster, has been remanded in custody for 14 days on charges of blasphemy.

Pakistan’s laws on blasphemy are extremely strict and charges can carry the death penalty.

Violent: Police resorted to baton charge to disperse the violent protesters

Mr Farooqi's lawyer, Jawad Ashraf, told the AFP that he planned to appeal for bail for his client on Saturday.

Sameer Asim Farooqi, Mr Farooqi's son who also works at the school and is now in hiding, described the way the protests unfolded as 'strange'.

He said: 'It seems that an organised gang attacked our school. The attackers were mostly teenagers and they had batons in their hands, but some of them were also armed (with firearms).’

He added that Ms Iftikhar had been fired on Tuesday after parents called up and pointed out her mistake.

She was fired despite telling the principal that she had made a mistake when copying out the passage.

There have also been suggestions that the attacks were part of a conspiracy against the school, which is one of the most respected and successful within the Lahore area.

Authorities have said that if the inquiry reveals that the school administration was not to blame, action will be taken against those who vandalised the school.

Amnesty International’s South Asia Director Polly Truscott told MailOnline: 'Reports about the ransacking of Farooqi Girls' High School by a mob deeply troubling, but sadly, unsurprising. There have been many such incidents in recent years.

'We're glad to hear that an inquiry is already underway but such inquiries tend to fizzle out. It's critical that the police and judiciary ensure that the attackers are swiftly brought to justice, and those whose lives are still at risk are fully protected.

'In the recent past individual members of the public have killed people they for suspected blasphemy, and often where no formal charge has been brought by the authorities.'