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.
quote by Nasim Zehra
///////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. //////
@ Nasim Zehra
I just happened to notice these words of yours…..and can’t stop but pity you!!
<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>
How cleverly you dare to use the name of the Holy prophet without feeling any qualm of conscience or honor at someone abusing him??? Why have you missed so many other teachings of the Holy Prophet ?? To jog up your memory may I ask to narrate the incident when a person went to complain to Hazrat Ali or Umer against the judgment of the Holy Prophet?? Though I do not recall the actual wordings of the incident but the Caliph immediately killed that complainant for bringing a complaint against the Holy Prophet before him!!
I hope someone here…particularly Adnan, might be able to retrieve the tradition and post it here exactly…
the point is that Would any real Muslim tolerate any one abusing the Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad in his presence??? NO, the tradition explains it all.
On the Americans. Agreed. They are criminals, idiots, murderers. Done. Finished.
@Sarah,wow, how innocently or i say “Ignocently” you wrote this. The country which finished 3(or I say more?) countries in last 60-70 years are being cussed in typical girlish way by a little girl. *sigh*. Somebody pls redefine Irony?
@Meengla: you seem an e-Jiyala who has been given the task to defend the party. Can you please tell me how many times Asif Zardari and other cabinet members were attacked? Can you please tell us that how Talibans, who can ruin security at NATO base are not able to breach the security around Mr.Malik and other of your party people? If our govt’s security personnels are so awesome then why dnt we bring some $$$ by training NATO forces to secure their guys? atleast on their airbase?
And kindly don’t give the lame example of Benazir’s assassination, even BB said that she had no threat from Mehsud guys and she had directly took name of Musharraf,Pervaiz Elahi and that IB guy. And even some newbie in Pakistani politics could figure out who was the “direct beneficiary” of Benazir’s murder. So let’s not try to fool yourself and others.
To my “darling” friend Akif Nizam, last time i heard “Wajibul Qatal” from our ‘friends’, Shia Hazraat who wrote Wajibul Qatal on every wall against Dr.Israr because Dr.Israr revealed something about Ali(RA) and Quran’s verse about alcohol. And to my knowledge, Shias are neither Talibans nor Deobandi. *grin*
@ Mullah Ifti
here is what you quoted…..
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.]]]
yes, they do walk in all humbleness (as the worm) but when you try to trample them they turn!!
Tooth for a tooth eye for an eye….this is the islamic way!!
Like Jesus we are not to turn the other cheek when slapped on one!! Even his followers are not adhering to his teachings…WTF are they doing in Muslim countries???
why don’t they go to places like Korea ? why are they afraid of their challenge??
The coalition wants total control of Afghanistan to lay their pipe lines, monopolize on hashish production and set their bases!!
I am not with the Talibans for many reasons which I too believe are too ‘extreme’ but at the same I cannot overlook the ”peace” they brought to their land during their split-second rule!! What the world is looking for is peace and peace only comes with rule of law and curbing evil…
Ifti and his like should avoid quoting Quranic verses out of context…..that is great SIN!!
@Ifti
you are merely trying to seek shelter behind lame excuses…
The holy Quran says many things…..why don’t you mention those?? there are many ‘direct’ commands which are clearly understandable but you don’t want to point them out.
Allegories are not for fun…they have to be read in their proper context…
Do you recall the incident when Hazrat Ali spared a Jew who spat at his face after being beaten up?? Ali spared his life because he was overwhelmed with ‘personal anger’….and not at that Jews atrocity towards Islam. Had he insulted Islam Ali would have certainly sent him to hell!!
Blasphemy is NOT a personal matter; it affects a great religion, the feelings and sentiments of the followers of a great religion, Islam. Moreover, blasphemy is a crime at law in this country. Hence there is NO excuse for the culprit to be let loose….if she has committed the crime and adjudged a criminal at law by the superior courts she must be hanged!! That would be a lesson for others who unashamedly mock at Islam ……and yet have no qualms to call themselves Muslim! Bloody hypocrites they are!!
kibra khara bajaar mein sab kee magay khair
na kahoo se dosti na kahoooo se bayr…..