In June 2008, Asiya Bibi, a Pakistani farm worker and mother of five, fetched water for others working on the farm. Many refused the water because Asiya was Christian. The situation got ugly. Reports indicate Asiya was harassed because of her religion and the matter turned violent. Asiya, alone in a hostile environment, naturally would have attempted to defend herself but was put in police custody for her protection against a crowd that was harming her.
However, that protection move turned into one that was to earn Asiya a death sentence. A case was filed against her under sections 295-B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code, claiming that Asiya was a blasphemer. Her family will appeal against the judgment in the Lahore High Court.
The Asiya case raises the fundamental question of how Pakistan’s minorities have been left unprotected since the passage of the blasphemy law.
There may have been no hangings on account of the law but it has facilitated the spread of intolerance and populist rage against minorities, often leading to deaths. There is also a direct link between the Zia-ist state’s intolerance against minorities and the rise of criminal treatment of Ahmadis.
Cases have ranged from the Kasur case to the more recent Gojra case, from the mind-boggling row of cases between 1988-1992 against 80-year-old development guru Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan, to the case of the son of an alleged blasphemer, an illiterate brick kiln worker who was beaten to death by a frenzied mob.
Although doctor sahib faced prolonged mental torture, he was saved from the maddening rage that has sent to prison, and in some cases devoured, many innocent, poor and hence unprotected Pakistanis.
There is a long list, prepared by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, of unjust punishments handed down to Pakistani citizens whose fundamental rights the state is obliged to protect. Beyond punishments, minorities live in constant fear of being lethally blackmailed by those who want to settle other scores.
Yet most political parties have refrained from calling for the law’s repeal or improvement in its implementation mechanism.
When, in the early 90s, I asked Nawaz Sharif sahib to criticise the hounding of Dr Khan, his response was a detailed recall of the story in which Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) went to ask after the health of a non-Muslim woman who repeatedly threw garbage over him. He condemned what was happening but said politics prevented him from doing so publicly. Later, General Musharraf, advised by other generals, reversed his announcement of changing the law’s implementation mechanism. Small crowds protested against it. Among politicians, very few exceptions include the PPP parliamentarian Sherry Rehman and, more recently, the ANP’s Bushra Gohar, who asked for its amendment and repeal.
Already sections of the judiciary have been critical of flawed judgements passed by lower courts in alleged blasphemy cases. Recently in July, Lahore High Court Chief Justice Khawaja Sharif quashed a blasphemy case against 60-year-old Zaibunnisa and ordered her release after almost 14 years in custody. According to the judgment, the “treatment meted out to the woman was an insult to humanity and the government and the civil organisations should be vigilant enough to help such people.” Surely the Bench should know the plethora of abuses that Pakistan’s minorities have suffered because of an evidently flawed law.
A message more appropriate, perhaps, would be to repeal the black law that grossly undermines the Constitution of Pakistan and indeed the teachings of Prophet Muhammad, one of the most tolerant and humane law-givers humankind has known. This environment of populist rage, fed by the distorted yet self-serving interpretation of religion principally by Zia and a populist mixing of religion and politics by a politically besieged Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, must be emphatically challenged. A collective effort to roll back these laws must come from parliament, the lawyers’ forums, the judiciary, civil society groups and the media.
This was originally published in The Express Tribune.
@Sarah
That was just a supposition and I can see how that fictitious assumption has hurt you…
Who knows if you would go for the extreme or not??? Sudden provocation tends to overwhelm most people….especially all honorable people. Wonder if you fell in that category??
That blaspheming wretch is a liar…the best way to judge and convict her to go by the law…she has been condemned by the Sessions court-she still has legal remedies in that she can appeal to the High court and the Supreme court.
She cannot be an exception to the Law….and cannot be allowed to take advantage of her belonging to a minority and fondling with law! No one should expect to change the law or fiddle with it for vested reasons…I suggest that even Muslims should also be strictly dealt with for apostasy and heresy for posting anti-Islam slogans on internet forums…
If she is innocent she will get off the charges…if not she is a blatant and shameless hate-mongering scourge on this earth!
Why aren’t you telling us Sharia of YOUR choice???
Blasphemy law has no justification in Quran & Sunnah. It is 100% against the basic teachings of Islam. It was a tool created by Zia dictator to appease the Mullahs to become “Ameerul Momineen”.
Holy Prophet (saw) is Rahamtulil Alemeen (Mercy for all). Those who support blasphemy law are actually doing blasphemy of the Holy Prophet (saw) by degrading his status and ruining his holy name. They should be the first ones to be hanged.
All these jahil mullahs can do is create disorder on this earth in the holy name of Islam.
If one dares to discuss any conflicting moral/religious issues with even the most educated Pakistanis, it’s like playing hide and seek, except that there is no seeking. It’s mostly hide and avoid and duck and cover behind their religious cloaks. “The book says so…… do you dare to contradict the Quran?….. end of discussion”. In other societies, you are allowed to say yes. In Pakistan (by way of Saudi Arabia), you become Waajibul Qatl, subject to blasphemy laws. That’s the entire premise of the blasphemy laws; to stop discussion and dissent, to stop progress and to keep the society mired in a cesspool of thousand year old Saudi tribal customs. Once Zia decided to abandon the Pakistani identity in exchange for the brown-Arab identity, we all became experts at this game for the sake of maintaining our social standings. We learned to craft every argument so that it ends with either “ it is so writing in the Quran”, or that “we don’t really understand the real meaning of Quran”, or “we should go to a real Aalim for the real meaning”, or “no real muslim can do such a thing”, or the ever-popular “the Jews/Hindus/America did it”.
Unfortunately, the minorities are still learning this game, sometimes at a very heavy price and sometimes when they are not playing at all. It’s our game and we decide on the rules. Pakistan Zindabad!
Someone at the beginning said something about how if you do not understand the Quran it is because you have not read it. What arrogance…Even the Quran says that there is allegory in it whose true meaning is known to none other than Allah.
Surah 3 Verse 7
“He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic or fundamental (of established meaning); they are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical. But those in whose hearts is perversity follow the part thereof that is allegorical, seeking discord, and searching for its hidden meanings, but no one knows its hidden meanings except Allah. And those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say: “We believe in the Book; the whole of it is from our Lord:” and none will grasp the Message except men of understanding.”
Good men can only try to interpret and Bad men will preach intellectual arrogance and will guide the ignorant by saying they know with certainty what only God knows.
Also, anyone who wants to kill someone for insulting there religion, parents, etc is an idiot. In fact, for you who are so arrogant as to preach death on those who disagree with you, I would like to recommend this book that argues for religious freedom, forgiveness, and patience…Its called the Quran.
Let there be no compulsion (or coercion) in the religion (Islam). The right direction is distinctly clear from error. (2:256)
Invite all to the way of your God with wisdom and beautiful preaching. And argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious. For your God knows best who have strayed from his path and who receive guidance. And if you do respond to an attack, respond no worse than they did. But if you show patience, that is indeed the best course. Be patient- for your patience is from God . . . Indeed, God is with those who restrain themselves and those who do good. (16:125-128)
This one is relevant. So, if someone insults my God, my God tells me that I can at most respond equally. That would mean that at most I can insult back, not KILL ANYONE. FURTHER, patience is prescribed as it is “the best course” and it is from God. So, hey, why not just forgive or turn from the ignorant and just say SALAAM as our God prescribes.
25:63
SHAKIR: And the servants of the Beneficent Allah are they who walk on the earth in humbleness, and when the ignorant address them, they say: Peace.
So to Adnan, I say Peace. From a Muslim, please realize that this law abrogates the Quran and if you don’t believe me, forgive as God has prescribed you too.
yun to syed bhi ho mirza bhi ho afghan bhi ho…
tum sabhi kuch ho batao to musalmaan bhi ho