Blasphemy law stares at Pakistan Christians

There is little to tell Pakistani Christians apart from the rest. Yet they often fall victim to the sweeping blasphemy law in which the mob acts as prosecutor and executor at the same time.

Blasphemy is punishable by death or life sentence in the nation of 241 million people. However, no one has been executed by the state for blasphemy so far. But many mob attacks and deaths have taken place because hardline Islamic mobs in Pakistan act as the law unto themselves.

“Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine,” the law in the Muslim-majority Islamic republic states.

Such cruel and unusual punishment in the South Asian nation is the result of the colonial legacy and traces its roots to the British rule in the subcontinent. Pakistan inherited the draconian law after independence in 1947. Christians make up less than 1.59 percent of the nation’s population.

In 1986, military ruler General Zia Ul-Haq added more teeth to the stringent law to be in the good books of orthodox religious parties.

If Swat Valley in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province was known for the Taliban and the attack on Malala Yousafzai earlier, the draconian blasphemy law reared its ugly head in the picturesque valley on June 20.

The 35-year-old Muhammad Suleman was assaulted by an angry mob in Madyan, a popular hill station of Swat Valley, bordering Afghanistan.

Suleman, a Muslim by faith, was visiting the valley as a tourist when he was attacked by the mob.

Nazir Masih, a 74-year-old Christian and shoe factory owner in Sargodha in Punjab province, was brutally assaulted by a mob on May 25 after being accused of committing blasphemy by burning pages of the Quran. He died on June 3.

The Dawn newspaper reported on July 1 that most of the people accused in the attack have been freed, and only 12 people face trial.

After Masih’s death, Christians in large numbers in Punjab province took to the streets against the law that criminalizes the defamation of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.

The incident in Sargodha in Punjab province resembles what occurred in Jaranwala last year.

In August last year, at least 22 churches were looted by a mob while 91 homes were torched during the violence over the alleged desecration of pages from the Quran that lasted a couple of hours.

The incident generated strong domestic and even international reactions from human rights bodies and Christians.

On June 7, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) reacted. The blasphemy law “emboldens private individuals and groups to take matters into their own hands,” the US body said.

On June 3, UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide sought the end of Pakistan’s blasphemy law.

According to the advocacy group Centre for Social Justice, over 3,000 persons have been accused of blasphemy since 1987. At least 552 persons have been incarcerated in prisons since last year in Punjab province, said to the Lahore-based outfit.

Nearly 103 persons were implicated between January and June this year.