Pakistan’s President Asif Zardari has called for an explanation for the arrest and jailing of an 11-year-old Christian girl with Down’s syndrome accused of burning a copy of the Koran. News of her arrest came amid growing sectarian tensions as Muslims throughout the country celebrated Eid.

The girl, Rimsha, was arrested after neighbours claimed to have entered her home and to have seen her burning pages of the Koran for cooking. One told the news agency AFP she had been arrested to prevent any attacks on her family.

Her arrest however provoked anger among some of the country’s senior leaders and revived memories of the murder of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in January last year for his support of a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam - a breach of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

He was murdered by one of his own bodyguards who was later hailed as a hero by lawyers. Pakistan’s minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a prominent Christian, was murdered in his car a few months later because he supported a repeal of the Blasphemy act. Mr Taseer’s son was kidnapped by militants in August last year.

Pakistan’s blasphemy laws are widely believed to be misused in local disputes and to settle personal scores but moves to abolish them have met with violent resistance. Mr Zardari himself has withheld support for reform but his spokesman Farhutullah Babar said the government would not allow the law to be misused.

The president had called for a report from Interior Ministry officials within 24 hours and reminded them that all Pakistanis, especially its vulnerable communities, must be protected from abuses of its blasphemy laws.

Police officials said the girl was arrested to protect her and her family from the threat of violence after a crowd of several hundred angry Muslims gathered outside her home in Mehrabad on the outskirts of Islamabad. Some members of the town’s Christian minority fled fearing violence.