Revoke the notorious Blasphemy Law

[AZADPAKISTAN2009]

No need to change anything we have bigger issues to cook

 

[CaptainJackSparrow]

No need to change anything we have bigger issues to cook

Yes Yes! I fully agree. You don't have to change anything. This is a non-issue. I don't know why is everybody raising such a hue and cry about it.

The blasphemy law should not be changed. In fact, if anything, it should be made far stricter.

 

[shree835]

Whoever says revoke Blasphemy Law from Pakistan…If they have Guts... Go to Pakistan and say that…Writing on the blog big big words are very easy…This is General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s Pakistan.

 

[Burger Boy]

Blasphemy Law serves no purpose except to give Pakistan bad PR worldwide.

 

[Elmo]

we have not beheaded anyone neither a single person has been hanged for it so far in Pakistan

Jana, I don't know if you are living in the same country as I am. Being prosecuted equals death. Even being implicated in a blasphemy case equals death.

Have you even gone through the letter they left next to Shahbaz Bhatti's body? he was killed simply because he was heading a committee looking into the aasia bibi affair. simply heading it.

Here this should be compulsory reading for you.

(Herald exclusive: Law unto themselves | Pakistan | DAWN.COM)

Police in Pakistan are known for being inefficient, corrupt and brutal. But when it comes to blasphemy cases they have behaved even more irresponsibly on a number of occasions, taking the law into their own hands and putting the accused to death without giving them the benefit of investigation or trial. This raises serious questions about the ability of the law and of law-enforcement mechanisms to take their course on an issue that inspires emotions as heated as blasphemy does. Or, to put it differently, there are two aspects to the debate on blasphemy laws: Are they effective as institutional tools to curb what is strictly a religious crime, and are they preventing people from dispensing mob and vigilante justice? The answer on both counts is no.

Hardly any incidents of blasphemy were reported before stricter punishments were introduced under these laws and new clauses were added to them in 1986. But since then, hundreds of people, more than half of them Muslims, have been accused of committing blasphemy, clearly indicating that these laws and their harsh penalties are either not working as deterrents or that people are being accused on trumped-up charges.

Evidence for the second question above is even more alarming: In at least 39 cases, angry members of the public – including policemen – took it upon themselves to punish the accused, demonstrating that they do not trust the law to deal with blasphemy.

While the answers to such questions are vital to the debate on whether or not we need the blasphemy laws, the Herald takes a look at some cases in which policemen either helped others punish the accused or allowed themselves to be overcome by their religious zeal and jumped the gun on official procedures and their own duty protocols to hand down death to those accused of blasphemy.

Source: Law journals
Samuel Masih

History: In August 2003, Samuel Masih was booked for blasphemy for allegedly throwing rubbish inside a mosque in Lahore’s Lawrence Gardens. While he was incarcerated in Lahore Central Jail, he contracted tuberculosis and was shifted to a local hospital for treatment in 2004. On May 24 that year, Faryad Ali, a policeman assigned to guard Masih in the hospital, entered his room and used a hammer to beat him up. A few days later Masih died of his wounds and Ali was arrested on murder charges.

Update: “Since Samuel Masih’s father Emmanuel and his family were receiving constant threats, they reconciled with Faryad Ali,” says Irfan Barkat, a former legal aid worker at the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP). “The policeman’s family gave them 600,000-700,000 rupees and they dropped all charges against him.”

Mian Qasim Ansari

History: In September 2009, police in Lala Musa town in Gujrat district arrested composers Mian Qasim Ansari, Irfan Naeem and Ghafoor Aslam. They had organised a book launch for author Asar Chughtai, whose work allegedly contained derogatory remarks about various prophets, including the Prophet of Islam. A couple of days later, police constable Saqib fired at and killed Ansari while he was in police custody. Saqib was detained and a case was registered against him.

Update: “Ansari’s wife pardoned Saqib and all charges were dropped against him,” says Waseem Ashraf Butt, Dawn’s correspondent in Gujrat.

Fanish Masih

History: On September 11, 2009 Fanish Masih was arrested from Jhateke village in Sialkot district on the complaint of Asghar Ali, who alleged that Masih had thrown some pages of the Quran in a drain. On September 15, the accused was found dead in a special security zone of Sialkot Central Jail. According to Jail Superintendent Farooq Lodhi, Masih had hanged himself by using the string of his shalwar. But Kiran Azaal at NCJP’s Legal Aid Cell says, “The post-mortem report showed that he had wounds on his head and marks around the neck, which convinced us that he was tortured. Moreover, he couldn’t have hanged himself with a string of his shalwar because he was dressed in a pant and a shirt.”

Update: Rosemary Paul of the NCJP says that a case has been filed against Lodhi for torturing Fanish Maish. It is pending hearing in a Gujranwala sessions court.

Justice Arif Iqbal Bhatti and Manzoor Masih

History: In 1993, Manzoor Masih, Salamat Masih and Rehmat Masih were arrested for allegedly writing blasphemous remarks on the wall of a mosque. While leaving a Gujranwala court in 1994 under police protection, they were attacked by unknown assailants. Manzoor Masih died on the spot and the other two received injuries. The police accompanying them did nothing to arrest the attackers. Later, a sessions court sentenced the two remaining accused to death. On February 23, 1995 a Lahore High Court bench, presided over by judges Arif Iqbal Bhatti and Chaudhry Khurshid Ahmed, set Salamat Masih and Rahmat Masih free. On October 10, 1997 Bhatti was killed in his law firm by an armed assailant. In 1998, police arrested one Sher Khan who admitted to murdering the judge and said that he did so because Bhatti had acquitted the accused.

Update: According to Barkat, Khan has “mysteriously disappeared from police custody.”

Yousuf Ali

History: A former army officer, the author of many books on Islam and a former adviser to the Saudi government, Yousuf Ali was arrested in a blasphemy case registered on March 1997 on the complaint of Ismail Shujabadi, an office bearer of Tehrik-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat who accused Ali of claiming that he could show images of the Prophet of Islam. In August 2000, he was sentenced to death. On June 11, 2002 he was shot dead by a fellow prisoner in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat Jail as he was being shifted to another prison. The killer, Tariq Mota, belonged to sectarian militant organisation Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan.

Update: A departmental probe into the killing implicated the entire jail staff in the incident. It declared Assistant Superintendent Police Chaudhry Bashir primarily responsible for allowing four people (including a journalist) to smuggle a pistol into the jail. Bashir and two other jail officials were arrested on charges of negligence.

Sources: Dawn, Pakistan Christian Post, World Net Daily and BBC

Sources: National Commission for Justice and Peace, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and law journals and reviews.

 

[Elmo]

Whoever started this forum must face the realities. Even if 3000 registered members on this forum does vote against Blasphemy law you will quantitatively be offset by 30000 villagers living in my vicinity!!
Democracy Counts even the morons!!

30,000 villagers?

You really think the people who took to the streets of Karachi to protest against the repeal were villagers?

Don't blame the villagers. Blame the people living in the cities.

This is not a PPP rally that they have hordes upon hordes of families from Sukkur and other smaller Sindh towns being paid nd brought to the city.

It was an urban city and its dwellers.

Though, I agree the law should be revoked but realistically speaking when laws as such are in place and have quiet a mainstream support and esp. when that same mainstream population doesn't fully understand the law and can be minipulated by opportunistic then there are smarter ways to approach this issue then simply coming out all guns blazing we're going to revoke these laws. You'd cause a great deal to damage to the country in the aftermath of such bold moves.

One such method is light enforcement. Yes, the laws are in place but are not enforced as strictly. Lighter punishments, longer court process and easy bail amounts, so people aren't spending time in jail from one hearing to another. And obviously don't announce such changes, just make them happen.

This is for short term, in the long term the focus should be to repel or alter the law in such way it doesn't get abused.

International community can shout foul and push their opportunistic agenda of maligning Pakistan of having oppressive religious laws on minorities of the country but truth is more muslims than minorities of the country are in jails on blasphemy charges. According to one survey more than 80% of the alleged/accused are muslims.

What manipulation are you talking about? The mainstream fully understands what the blasphemy laws are about.

Which survey are you talking about? According to HRCP, 50 % of the accused are Muslim.

Even then that is a highly imbalanced number considering that Muslims make up 95 % of the country's population.

That means that the minorities are so stupid that knowing they can be sentenced to death go on and commit blasphemy.

You got to be kidding me about the fairness of prosecution under the blasphemy laws.

Yeah, you guys with your multiple IDs on PD have a lot of character.
You taking cheap shots at Pakistan and members here sure tells a lot about your character. Go check out lists of banned indian trolls and double triple id holders to get an insight into your felow countrymen's character oh follower of "great mahatama".

Seriously, it wasn't him who brought Gandhi into this.

And somehow despite being a Pakistani and living in Pakistan, I today don't find any fault with what he had to say.

 

[LaBong]

Whoever says revoke Blasphemy Law from Pakistan…If they have Guts... Go to Pakistan and say that…Writing on the blog big big words are very easy…This is General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq’s Pakistan.

Dude that was really of poor taste. First of all you are in no position to know where they are right now, secondly, blogs are common and powerful podium used in all society to voice the opinion of unheard.

 

[monitor]

 

[shree835]

Dude that was really of poor taste. First of all you are in no position to know where they are right now, secondly, blogs are common and powerful podium used in all society to voice the opinion of unheard.

Believe you don understand my words...Or I did not made it much clear way.

Few couple of points from my side...

1. Have you saw rally in Pakistan after Salman Tasir Killing...??

They are Just Blind seeing world from Kath Mulla's Eyes.

2. Sitting somwhere away from Pakistan and Writing On blog is not going to make any diffrence there...

Same person when they go back to pakistan for couple of days ... they are singing same tune...COz end of the day they are family person...they don want to see their family into problem.

 

[BoseDK]

alas Mahatma Gandhi was killed for the same stand he took for the change.

Please share your wisdom on why gandhi was killed. And what stand he took?

 

[BoseDK]

No need to change anything we have bigger issues to cook

What is the issue bigger than safety and security of your people? More F-16's Blk 52s? More limousines for Gernails? Additional plutonium reactors?

 

[araz]

The Quran says,"and take just decisions even if they go against you". There are clearly problems with the implementation of this law which has resulted in its gross misuse. The problem also comes from the slow and encoumbered pace of investigation. If you take the Aasiya Bibi case, it is clear that she was incited into saying things by women of her village maligning her religion(Which is totally wrong by Islamic teaching), and when she retaliated, she was labelled a blasphemer. This is what is giving the law a bad name. Every one is joining the band wagon without knowing or blatently ignoring facts.
I dont think the law is wrong , but its implementation is grossly unjust and this is what needs to change. It was similar situation which led to the hadood ordinance being repealed. The people dont understand that in cases of hadd, the stacks are grossly against the prosecutors for a reason. The intention is never to dish out punishment left right and centre but for the law to be a caution against gross disregard towards sin. Otherwise why do you need 4 witnesses to adultary before prosecution before you can prosecute? To make people understand Hazrat Umar thought he saw someone commiting adultary while he was the Caliph. He went to Hazrat Ali RA a Qazi of the time and said I have seen such and such person committing adultary with such and such person. Hazrat Ali said "do you have the necessary witnesses?" Hazrat Umar replied "No". Hazrat Ali RA said to him "then if you report it and do not have enough witnesses, you will be liable to the punishment of Qazaf (40 lashes) so dont say anything more about it ! Importantly a person of Umer RA calibre could have teken the culprits out of their homes and chopped their heads off, but he did not do so. Hazrat Ali RA stuck to the requirements ofthe law not to accept the evidence of even the Caliph of the time!! Subhan Allah!! Whatglorious examples we have to look at and understand our religion better!!May Allah SWT give us guidance.
Araz

 

[Ahmad]

it is clear that she was incited into saying things by women of her village maligning her religion(Which is totally wrong by Islamic teaching)

We know Islam condemns it, but is there a punishment for a muslim according to islam if he/she insulsts another religion?

 

[nitesh28]

my view is that the ppl should force the government to repeal this law. i know for a fact that islam is a liberal religion but has been hijacked by some ppl for their own interest.

these selfish muslims want to create a situation like world vs islam.

the true muslims will have to do SOMETHING else the world will deteriorate further.

 

[Spring Onion]

Jana, I don't know if you are living in the same country as I am. Being prosecuted equals death. Even being implicated in a blasphemy case equals death.

Have you even gone through the letter they left next to Shahbaz Bhatti's body? he was killed simply because he was heading a committee looking into the aasia bibi affair. simply heading it.

Here this should be compulsory reading for you.
.

yes i live in the same country and had my compulsory reading already and NONE had been so far hanged under the verdict for the blasphemy here so far.


all those cases mentioned are of the extra judicial killing and Muslims also faced it which have more to do with settling personal scores than blasphemy