Asiya Bibi: Repeal the Blasphemy Law

Posted on November 18, 2010
Filed Under >Nasim Zehra, Law & Justice, Religion, Society
87 Comments
Total Views: 66778

Nasim Zehra

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.

87 responses to “Asiya Bibi: Repeal the Blasphemy Law”

  1. Ghulam Ali says:

    This case is another sad one but this time I am glad that so many Pakistanis are speaking up and writing against these horrific laws. That shows that attitudes are changing.

  2. Adnan says:

    Christian Pakistani. You claim to be a Christian. I wonder whether you read your own Bible because Bible is filled with such “Black Laws” every where.


    They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)

    So better repeal your Bible first then call for constitution amendments.

  3. It would be hard even for the most sympathetic person on earth to understand the agony of Pakistani minorities because of the prejudice, harsh treatment of the majority, especially the BLACK LAW PPC 295-B & 295-C. With the introduction of this black legislation our lives, honour & property have been put in constant danger.
    We were not able to put off our mind last years barbarous act of setting fire to Christian Colony Gojra yet when the new of Rashid’s & Sajjid’s murder in broad day light broke. I witnessed the fear on the faces of women & children myself & the helplessness of men as they had nothing to protect their family & homes. Children were unable to breath due to the poisonous smoke of tear gas. Police were there but who can say for sure that they will stand against the angry militant & heavily armed religious clerics who would be contented at nothing but burning, looting & killing us. Sometimes we wonder who we belong to? If to Pakistan then why don’t we enjoy same social, political and constitutional rights?

  4. Pakistani-Saudi says:

    My opinion may be different than alot of others. I have been living abroad especially Saudi Arabia for a long time with educational background from one of the schools here. The issue we are facing here is sort of Unimaginable if I look the culture/traditions here. But if anyone disrespects or makes fun of any religious entity or law, the worst can be expected for it and everyone would be supporting it (atleast apparently).
    I am of the same opinion that if someone has some concerns about the Quran or Sunnah why he does something that it reaches public and media. If you cannot say anything good then don’t say anything. If Muslims cannot create a respectable environment in the places they own then why do they protest when something happens in the places they don’t own. Makes sense, right.

    One Law: Anybody doesn’t agree with any verse from Quran or any hadeeth from Rasool Sallu Aliahi Wasallam he is not accouted as a muslim and in addition if he or she makes fun of it, then reasonable action should be taken under the light of Quran and Sunnah. Think how would Abu Bakr and Umar bin Al-Khattab Radi Allahu Unhuma would have reacted against it.

  5. TruthSeeker says:

    Did the Islamic state during Muhammed’s period or immediately after him had any blasphemy law? If yes, what was the punishment?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*