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Another ‘blasphemy’ case

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Another ‘blasphemy’ case, "Black Day"

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

Thursday, August 06, 2009 , daily times monitor

LAHORE: An angry mob attacked the house of a 60-year-old woman in Sanghar district in Sindh in another alleged incident of desecration of the holy Quran, a private TV channel reported late on Wednesday. Following the attack, the police shifted the woman, Akhtari Malkani, to the police station from a katchi abadi area in the district. The District Bar Association officials assured the mob that a case would be registered against the woman if she was found guilty. Despite assurance from the lawyers and police, the people demanded that the woman should be handed over to them and pelted stones at the police station building and burned tyres on road.
 
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“Black Day” shall be show of Christian power to repeal blasphemy law.

Pakistan Christian Post

Islamabad: August 6, 2009. (Pakistan Christian Post report)

Dr. Nazir S Bhatti Chief of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC said that “Black Day” on August 11, 2009, shall be end of blasphemy laws and
persecution because 20 million Pakistani Christian shall express their unity by holding peaceful protests, wearing black bands and by hoisting black flags on their homes.

Pakistan Christian Congress PCC announced on July 21, 2009, to observe “Black Day” on August 11, instead of Minority Day by government and Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities.

Sources revealed PCP that government is planning to impose section 144 and to arrest leaders and activists of organizations which have openly declared to participate in “Black Day” but Nazir S Bhatti warned administration not to block or to disturb peaceful gathering of Christians.

Nazir S Bhatti said, “ By our unity and peaceful protest we have to press upon government to repeal blasphemy law because Islamic laws have been allegedly used to kill Christians by extremist Muslims”

“Black Day” shall also be day of resignation of Shahbaz Bhatti, Kamran Michael and all selected Christian parliamentarians by Muslim feudal lords.

Nazir Bhatti added “ Christian united political party is only solution to our issues not Pakistan Peoples Party PPP, Pakistan Muslim League PML9N) , Pakistan Muslim League PML(Q), Muthida Quomi Movement MQM, Jamat-e-Islami JI, Awami National Party ANP because Muslim political groups have never raised voice on floor to repeal blasphemy law and Dual Voting right for us”

“The statements of Muslim political groups are only to Hijack Christian vote bank under Joint Electorate and they have hired some Christian agents who are working against Christian unity but successful “Black Day” will by last kneel in coffin of forces against Christian cause in Pakistan” said Nazir Bhatti

Nazir S Bhatti, appealed all Christian political groups to raise banners with slogans of demands to repeal blasphemy laws on Black Day in rallies.
 
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My advise for you is mind your own business. There are extremists christians and even a large groups of KKK in America and please solve these matters as soon as possible if you wish. You CAN'T put your fingers at Pakistan only for your sympathy ! :angry:

StealthQL-707PK,

I will never follow your flaming advice. :wave:
 
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Thank you for your positive gestures..............

Yeah, right. You, Mr. StealthQL-707PK, are the poster boy for the defamation of other people's beliefs. Congratulations, you are, almost, the anti-Christian champion of the PDF.
 
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My advise for you is mind your own business. There are extremists christians and even a large groups of KKK in America and please solve these matters as soon as possible if you wish. You CAN'T put your fingers at Pakistan only for your sympathy ! :angry:

Don't avoid the discussion at hand, people like you like to avoid discussing the topics critical of our governments inability to have a proper law and order. You just merely point fingers and start comparing . If you have nothing to say don't start comparing every time, instead you should be condemning this behavior and if your not than your just someone who could careless about the well being of its citizens. Stay on Topic and discuss what the topic is about
 
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Thanks to Mr Zia.I hope PPP try to remove this law as it's supposed to liberal party but who knows they might not do it to gain power in parliment from Religious Partieis.
 
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I don't think a Blasphemy law gives anyone the freedom to attack minorities , there are radicals in every religion and they they don't need the benefit of laws to go about their notorious business , radicals are not a reflection on any society be it Islamic or Christian.

The much criticized blasphemy law is probably good in spirit but poor in letter form , it's principal aim is to perhaps protect all religions but comes of as one protecting only Islam.

A re-drafting is done properly would make it a very different law and a step in the right direction.
 
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So why should Christians be subject to muslim blasphemy laws?

Same as ban on hijab have to be faced by muslims girls in France. It is the Islamic State's Law, or you can say social law of the country not personal law of the religion. (that's a separate issue that law is compliance with Islamic Law)

@Topic

So great, now pakistan is becoming more lawless!! & people (media & politicians) are not working for implementation of law i.e. to put culprits (who destroyed homes) behind the bar, but want to change the law. To me it is like, since most of the people break signal thats why we need to remove law to catch the criminals of signal offense . Stupid Logic!! Main problem isn't Blasphemy Law, but those people who take this law in their hands. This is same as demand and operation like swat against those people who challanges the writ of state.
 
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One should also look at the bright side of the story. Police acted quickly and saved the life of the lady. Atleast now she shall face justice instead of getting killed and later found innocent.
 
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One should also look at the bright side of the story. Police acted quickly and saved the life of the lady. Atleast now she shall face justice instead of getting killed and later found innocent.

There is no bright side to the story. Police should have arrested the protesters and charged them with affray and damaging property.

However one glosses the blasphemy laws, this is a draconian , anti humanity law that should never be part of a civil society, Islamic or otherwise.

There can be laws that can prosecute people from hurting the religious sentiments of a community. Blasphemy laws invite vigilantes to take the law into their own hands often with innocents being killed.
 
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Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan
‘Blasphemy’ claims three more victims

Wednesday, August 05, 2009

A worker entered Najeebullah’s factory at around 2pm and saw that the owner had taken down an outdated calendar – which had verses from the holy Quran written on it – and put it on a table. The worker then misbehaved with the owner over – what he thought – was “desecration” of the holy Quran. When a guard tried to stop him, he ran out into the working area and started gathering his colleagues, claiming the owner had committed ‘blasphemy’.
 
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Proud of being Pakistani?

DAWN.COM | Columnists | Proud of being Pakistani?

By Irfan Husain
Saturday, 08 Aug, 2009 | 07:55 AM PST

OVER the last few days, the Pakistani media has been full of reports about the mob violence that took seven innocent Christian lives in Gojra.

Given the revulsion all decent people have felt, the government has been forced to move: provincial and federal ministers have visited the area; compensation of five lakhs for each life lost has been announced; and the district police chief has been transferred.

In short, we have gone through all the familiar motions. With practised ease, the bureaucracy has swung into action after the murders and arson were long over. Had they shown such alacrity to forestall the incident, many people would have been alive today. While I have read several newspaper reports about the killings, the following email from Father Bonnie Mendes made particularly poignant reading:

‘Dear Irfan,

Somebody sent me your email. Working as I was in villages, I hardly read newspapers. However, at this time I am based in Bangkok working as regional coordinator of Caritas Asia. It is part of the whole global Caritas Internationalis with its headquarters in the Vatican….

‘You must have heard of all that has happened in Gojra…. At a Christian village in Korian Chak 362 JB, Gojra tehsil, district Toba Tek Singh (places I have worked for a long time), kids got hold of some social studies and Urdu textbooks and cut pages to throw in welcome to the groom coming to the village. News spread that an Arabic text was also cut up. Talib Masih, father of one of the boys, was called before the baraderi. He explained everything and how illiterate children had done it to welcome the party. He apologised. The matter ended there.

‘Rumours still were spreading and some armed groups came and attacked the two chapels in the village, torched them and burnt the Christian houses. That was bad enough. Federal and provincial ministers came. Only one Muslim officer came to assess the damage. That was all. He too did not condole for the loss. Instead he asked others who came to leave for security risks. They answered: we will die with our people.

‘Two or three days later, a mob came and attacked the Christians in the town of Gojra. Seven died. They used whatever they had to defend themselves, including rifles used for hunting. They ran out of ammunition. Houses were gutted.

‘The police would not register the FIR.

‘Funerals could not be held. People said first register the FIR, the police wanted to dilute the case and then register the FIR without the names of those identified by the Christians.

‘The funerals could not be held. Pressure kept growing. The people took the coffins and kept them on the rail track. Rail tracks were blocked. People sat on the railway lines. In the end the FIR was registered. The funeral was done by Bishop Joseph Coutts at 9.30 pm on Sunday.

‘People wanted Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to come. He was busy giving awards to students. They were given Rs300,000 each. The victims only Rs500,000 each. Life is cheap, it seems.

‘The sad part is that the police were warned and allowed this to happen.

‘Thank you for your continual support.

Fr Bonnie Mendes’

Reading these details, I could imagine the anguished screams of the people being burned alive and the helpless fury of families unable to help sons, brothers and fathers.

I am often sent emails by readers claiming to be ‘proud Pakistanis’. How can one be proud to be a Pakistani when incidents like the one at Gojra occur with such sickening regularity? Recently, several houses belonging to Christians were torched in Kasur. I have little doubt that soon another tragedy involving one minority community or another will play itself out on the national stage. Politicians will wring their hands, some official will be made the scapegoat, and so on till the next tragedy.

Ever since the blasphemy laws were imposed on Pakistan by Gen Zia nearly three decades ago, our country has become an increasingly dangerous place for non-Muslims. Hundreds of cases have been registered against hapless Christians and Hindus. Ahmadis have not only been declared non-Muslims, they have been actively persecuted for their beliefs.

If Muslims in the West were treated as we treat non-Muslim citizens of Pakistan, there would be loud accusations of Islamophobia and anti-Muslim discrimination. And despite this widespread and rampant discrimination against our minorities, we have the gall to lecture the world about our peaceful values.

One recurring theme in the media commentary about the Gojra tragedy is how Zia’s blasphemy laws have encouraged the persecution of the minorities. Anybody with a grudge to settle or some property to grab can swear he saw a non-Muslim desecrate the Quran. Inflaming a mob of bigots is an easy matter for the local mullah who is often in on the scam.

What most commentators have not said is that this pattern has continued unchecked because nobody is ever punished for these crimes. I, for one, am unaware of any mullah or a member of a lynch mob who has been successfully prosecuted for his role in barbaric acts like the ones at Gojra. Often, as now, the police do register a case, but once the media spotlight has been turned elsewhere, life returns to its grim norm for the minorities.

While the dilatory tactics employed by the law and order agencies as well as our lower courts are par for the course, civil society has not played its role either. Although the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan maintains a record of anti-minority crimes as well as other violations, the fact is that the media’s and the public’s attention span and memory are very limited.

If we are serious about protecting our minorities, we will need to get serious about prosecuting those responsible for incidents like Gojra. But both our politicians and our Bonapartes fear religious parties and militias too much to actually throw their leaders in jail. The fact that Musharraf as well as his civilian predecessors and successors have lacked the will and the courage to undo the blasphemy laws is a sad comment on the grip the religious right has on our jugular.
 
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This is getting out of hand now.You can accuse anyone of blasphemy and basically get a license to kill.And we're not even talking about the actual law here, which has been systematically used by various elements to settle their grievances against the minorities.

This issue should be raised in the parliament and this black law must be repealed.
 
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Yet another sense-less case, another opprtunity for the Mullahs to score a point where none can be found, another reminder of how the law is abused, another highlight of what minorities in Pakistan would feel like .... !


Doctor Arrested For Blasphemy

KARACHI, Dec 12, 2010 (AFP) - A doctor has been arrested for insulting the Prophet Mohammed in Pakistan, police said on Sunday, in a second high profile case throwing the spotlight on the country's controversial anti-blasphemy laws.

Naushad Valiyani was detained on Friday following a complaint by a medical representative who visited the doctor in the city of Hyderabad.

"The arrest was made after the complainant told the police that Valiyani threw his business card, which had his full name, Muhammad Faizan, in a dustbin during a visit to his clinic," regional police chief Mushtaq Shah told AFP.

"Faizan accused Valiyani of committing blasphemy and asked police to register a case against the doctor."

Shah said the issue had been resolved after Valiyani, a member of Pakistan's Ismaili community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, apologised but local religious leaders intervened and pressed for action.

"Valiyani had assured Faizan that he did not mean to insult the Prophet Mohammed by throwing the visiting card in the dustbin," Shah said, adding that the police had registered a case under the Blasphemy Act.

Most of those convicted of blasphemy in Pakistan have their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal through the courts.

The country has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but the case has highlighted a controversial law which rights activists say encourages Islamist extremism in a Muslim country on the front line of the US-led war on Al-Qaeda.

Only around three percent of Pakistan's population of 167 million are estimated to be non-Muslim.
 
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