Page 14 - :: Rashtradarpan Magazine - January 2021 ::

record, according to the South Asian ily is in hiding and many of the Hindu
Media Research Institute, a civil society community in the conservative district
initiative that has counted 234 accusa- of Rahim Yar Khan, in Punjab, have
tions as of mid-October 2021. Some of fled their homes after a Muslim crowd
the recent cases involving blasphemy attacked a Hindu temple after the boy’s
are as follows: release on bail last week. Troops were
On the night of November 29, 2021, deployed to the area to quell any further
thousands of protesters stormed the unrest.
and fundamentalism. The Blasphemy police station in Charsadda, a district The Pakistani social structure has be-
BLASPHEMY CASES laws are used as tool by the extremist in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, come so much radicalized that even
IN PAKISTAN elements to harass and target minority and burned the facility along with sev- simple marches by women on Interna-
communities in Pakistan. These laws eral nearby security outposts after po- tional Day of Woman this year was not
Recent killing of Priyantha Kumara, are also used to settle property issues lice refused to hand over the blasphemy tolerated. Pakistani police registered
the Sri Lankan general manager of a or vendettas as observed by Supreme suspect. The mob attack forced police a blasphemy case against organizers
garment factory in Sialkot city of Pa- Court of Pakistan in Malik Muhammad officers to abandon the installation and of the feminist Aurat Azadi (Women’s
kistan has again brought focus on infa- Mumtaz Qadri vs The State, “The ma- flee to safety along with the detainee. Freedom) March in a northwestern
mous blasphemy laws of Pakistan. The jority of blasphemy cases are based on Authorities arrested around 30 peo- city, Peshawar, on the occasion of Inter-
charred body of a factory manager who false accusations stemming from prop- ple in connection with the assault on national Day of Woman earlier this year
was lynched by a mob in Pakistan for erty issues or other personal or family a police station aimed at grabbing and on March 8.
alleged blasphemy was brought back vendettas rather than genuine instances lynching a mentally unstable detainee As a state party to the International
to Sri Lanka on December 7, 2021. Sri of blasphemy and they inevitably lead accused of insulting Islam. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
Lankan national Priyantha Kumara was to mob violence against the entire com- On 21 October 2021, UN human rights (ICCPR), Pakistan must respect and
assaulted by a mob of hundreds of peo- munity.” experts urgently appealed to Pakistan protect freedom of opinion and expres-
ple before being dragged into the streets This Pakistan’s blasphemy laws violate to release Stephen Masih, a Pakistani sion; freedom of thought, conscience,
and set on fire on December 3, 2021, in human rights, both in their substance Christian from Sialkot District, who has and religion or belief; the right to life;
Sialkot, Pakistan, where he helped run and their application – whether this is been detained for over two years await- equality before the law and freedom
a sports equipment factory. Workers violations of human rights by the state, ing trial for allegedly committing blas- from discrimination; right to fair trial;
at the factory accused him of desecrat- or abuses of the laws by non-state ac- phemy. “We are seriously concerned by and the prohibition on arbitrary deten-
ing posters bearing the name of Islam’s tors. The laws do not meet human rights the persecution and ongoing detention tion. It must ensure that all individuals
Prophet Muhammad. standards and lack essential safeguards of Mr. Masih on blasphemy grounds, within its territory and subject to its
Pakistan, an Islamic state, has notori- to minimize the risk of additional viola- and by his treatment at the hands of jurisdiction are protected against viola-
ously draconian laws against blasphe- tions and abuses. the judicial and prison authorities who tions of these rights by its own agents
my, which carry the death sentence. are aware of his psychosocial disability as well as against acts committed by
The laws are often used against religious The infamous Asia Bibi Case: and health condition,” the experts said. non-state actors (bodies or individu-
minorities and those accused are some- One of Pakistan’s most infamous blas- “We call on the authorities to urgently als) that would impair the enjoyment
times lynched before they are proven phemy cases is that of the Christian review Mr. Masih’s case, and to release of those rights. Pakistan’s blasphemy
guilty in a court. The culture of fear woman Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old Chris- and drop all charges against him, and to laws violate its international legal ob-
around blasphemy cases means judges tian farmhand and a woman with re- ensure protection for him and his fam- ligations. The real test of democracy is
are often too afraid to find the accused sponsibility for five young children ily.” how it safeguards its minority commu-
anything other than guilty. A 2019 re- from the village of Ittan Wali, near In August 2021, an eight-year-old Hin- nities and its institutions. The record so
port in Dawn, quoting the Centre for the Punjabi city of Sheikhupura. She du boy became the youngest person far shows that Pakistan has miserably
Social Justice said that at least 62 men was sentenced to death in 2010 after charged with blasphemy in Pakistan. failed to protect rights of its own citi-
and women have been killed on mere being accused of blasphemy by her He is being held in protective police zens and nor it has political will to bring
suspicion of blasphemy between 1987 co-workers. Almost a decade later she custody in east Pakistan . The boy’s fam- a meaningful change.
and 2015. A report titled “As Good As was acquitted after heavy internation-
Dead” released by Amnesty Interna- al pressure. Speaking to BBC, she
tional in 2016 said that a total of 633 said,"My husband was at work, my
Muslims, 494 Ahmadis, 187 Christians kids were in school, I had gone
and 21 Hindus have been accused un- to pick fruit in the orchard," she
der various provisions on offences relat- said. "A mob came and dragged
ed to religion since 1987. me away. They made fun of me,
Evolution of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws I was very helpless." In her book,
Offences relating to religion in Pakistan Ms. Asia Bibi tells how she feared
were introduced in the colonial era in for her life in prison, with other in-
British India – which included the ter- mates calling for her to be hanged.
ritory that is now Pakistan – to prevent She also recalled mistreatment at
and curb religious violence between the hands of the prison guards.
Hindus and Muslims. Under the mili- Former Punjab Governor Sal-
tary government of General Zia-ul-Haq maan Taseer, who supported Asia
(1977-1988), who set the process of Is- Bibi, was shot dead by one of his
lamization in Pakistan, additional laws bodyguards Mumtaz Qadri in Is-
were introduced against blasphemy lamabad on January 4, 2011. Qa-
that were specific to Islam. The most dri later told media that Salmaan
frequently invoked blasphemy laws in Taseer was a blasphemer, and this
Pakistan’s Penal Code are Sections 295- is the punishment for a blasphem-
A (outraging religious feelings), 295-B er. Salmaan Taseer had sought a
(desecrating the Quran), 295-C (defil- presidential pardon for Asia Bibi,
ing the name of the Prophet Muham- a 45-year-old Christian farmhand.
mad) and 298-A (defiling the names of Salmaan Taseer’s support for her,
the family of the Prophet Muhammad, and his view that Pakistan’s blas-
his companion or any of the caliphs). phemy laws were “black laws”, were
When charges are levelled under most also cast as an act of blasphemy by
of these laws, the police have the au- supporters of the laws. The inci-
thority to arrest the alleged offender dent shows the reduced space for
without a warrant and can commence minority rights and liberal practic-
their investigation without orders from es in Pakistan.
the magistrate’s court. In 1990, the Fed- Recent Blasphemy cases: Despite
eral Shariat Court, responding to a pe- international criticism of these
tition, ruled that the death penalty was laws, blasphemy accusations are on
mandatory under 295-C. Since then, the rise in Pakistan under the Im-
the law is bending on all courts. ran Khan Government. 2020 saw
The successive governments in Paki- the highest number to date – 200-
stan have yielded to Islamic radicalism but 2021 has already surpassed that

17,January 2022 Vol.4/No-1 14