An eleven-year-old Christian girl in Pakistan who was accused of desecrating the Quoran is facing the death penalty after she was arrested following pressure by irate Muslims.

Police were said to have arrested the unnamed after an angry crowd of up to 1,000 surrounded her family’s house and demanded punishment for the girl.

The girl is believed to be suffering from Down’s Syndrome and there is no proof that she committed the alleged crime. Her ordeal started when she was accused by a Muslim of having a bag of ashes believed to be burnt pages of the Muslim Holy Book, the Quoran.

“Her parents have been taken into protective custody following threats and hundreds of other Christian families have been forced to flee the unrest in their neighbourhood,” said one report.

“Officials said the girl could not properly answer police questions after she was held under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law - which carries a potential death penalty,” the report added.

Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari has ordered a probe into the arrest of the girl, which was took place last week in a Christian area of the capital Islamabad.

It would be recalled that a Christian couple in Pakistan were jailed for 25 years two years ago after they were accused of touching a Koran with unwashed hands.

*Photo, courtesy Daily Mail UK, shows some Pakistani Christians praying at a church. There are tensions between the religious groups and Muslims