{"id":93903,"date":"2019-10-15T15:40:46","date_gmt":"2019-10-15T22:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=93903"},"modified":"2019-10-15T15:40:46","modified_gmt":"2019-10-15T22:40:46","slug":"the-weaponisation-of-blasphemy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/10\/15\/the-weaponisation-of-blasphemy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Weaponisation of Blasphemy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate,\u00a0Institute for Conflict Management <\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Riots broke out in Ghotki town (Ghotki District) of Sindh on September 15,\n2019, after a school principal from the minority Hindu community was booked on\ncharges of alleged blasphemy. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP)\ntweeted a video of protesters breaking the infrastructure of the school and\nwrote, “Alarming reports of accusations of blasphemy in Ghotki and the\noutbreak of mob violence”. Videos of stick-wielding protesters were also\nshared on social media in which they were seen vandalising a Hindu temple. The\nprotests erupted after a FIR (first information report) was filed against the\nHindu principal of Sindh Public School on the complaint of Abdul Aziz Rajput, a\nstudent’s father, who claimed that the teacher had committed blasphemy. The\nprincipal, identified as Notan Lal, was booked and then arrested on charges of\nblasphemy on September 16.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 27, 2019, a Hindu veterinary doctor, identified as Ramesh Kumar, was\narrested in Phulhadiyon area of Mirpurkhas District of Sindh after a local\ncleric filed a Police complaint accusing him of committing blasphemy. Although\nthe doctor was arrested, radical organisations and their supporters were not\npacified and took to setting fire and damaging shops owned by Hindus in the\narea besides, burning tyres on the roads. The head cleric of the local mosque,\nMaulvi Ishaq Nohri, filed the complaint with Police alleging that Kumar had\ntorn pages of a holy book and wrapped medicines in them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 20, 2019, one student, identified as Khateeb Hussain, at\nBahawalpur’s Government Sadiq Egerton College stabbed Associate Professor\nKhalid Hameed, the head of the English Department of the college, to death over\nwhat he vaguely described as the academic’s “anti-Islam” remarks.\nKhalid Hameed was seated inside his office at the college when he was allegedly\naccosted and attacked with a knife by the student. According to initial\ninformation noted by the Police at the scene of the crime, Khateeb Hussain, who\nwas a 5th-semester Bachelor of Arts (BA) student of the English Department, had\nexchanged hot words with Professor Hameed at around 8:40am [PST] over the\narranging of a ‘welcome party’ at the college. The event, which Hameed was\noverseeing, was to be held on March 21, 2019, to welcome new students to the\ncollege. Hussain was averse to the event being organised because he viewed the\nmingling of male and female pupils at the function as “un-Islamic”.\nFollowing an argument, Hussain stabbed the associate professor to death. The\nstudent equated the teacher’s words with blasphemy, Police said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Targeting people by accusing them of blasphemy is a persistent phenomenon in\nthe theocratic state of Pakistan. In its annual report released on April 15,\n2019, HRCP stated that around 70 people had been lynched since 1990 on\naccusations of insulting Islam. “In many cases, blasphemy allegations end\nup in a mob lynching or targeted killing of the accused before they can be\ntried or heard in a court of law,” the report added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similarly, a November 1, 2018, media report, quoting the Lahore-based Centre\nfor Social Justice (CSJ), stated that at least 75 people had been killed in\nPakistan since 1990, by angry mobs and individuals on the accusation of\nblasphemy. Out of the 75 people killed until January 31, 2018, 14 murders took\nplace in Lahore, including the murder of retired judge of the Lahore High Court\nArif Iqbal Bhatti. Bhatti was killed on October 17, 1997, by Ahmad Sher in\nLahore (Lahore District), because he had given a verdict in 1995 to acquit two\nChristian men of blasphemy charges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among the most high-profile killings relating to blasphemy was that of the\nGovernor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, came forward in the support of Aasia Bibi,\nthe first woman to be accused of Blasphemy. On January 4, 2011, Salman Taseer,\nthe Governor of the Punjab province, was killed<\/a><\/strong> by\nhis own security guard, because Taseer had sought to an amendment of the\nblasphemy law to remove the mandatory death penalty on conviction.\nSubsequently, on March 2, 2011, unidentified assailants killed the Federal\nMinorities Affairs Minister, Shahbaz Bhatti, another outspoken critic of the\nlaw. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aasia Bibi, also known as Asia Noreen, a Christian woman from Ittan Wali\nvillage in the Sheikhupura District, was sentenced to death on November 7,\n2010, for blasphemy<\/a><\/strong>,\nallegedly insulting Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbouring women in\nJune 2009. Noreen denied that she had committed blasphemy and asserted that she\nhad been accused by her neighbours to “settle an old score”. On\nNovember 7, 2010, Muhammed Naveed Iqbal, a judge at the district Court of\nSheikhupura, sentenced her to death by hanging. Additionally, a fine equivalent\nto USD 1,100 was imposed. On October 31, 2018, Pakistan\u2019s Supreme Court\noverturned the conviction, and Aasia Bibi was released from the New Jail for\nWomen in Multan on November 7, 2018. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fundamentalists and, in some cases, opportunists exploiting the law to\nsettle personal scores, often file false cases of blasphemy. Indeed, it has\nbeen established that most such accusations have been fabricated. A study by\nthe International Commission of Jurists<\/em> (ICJ) released on November 4,\n2015, on the implementation of the blasphemy law in Pakistan, under section\n295-C, found that in 19 out of 25 cases, i.e. 76 percent, the appellate courts\nfound that evidence and complaints had been fabricated based on personal or\npolitical vendettas\u201d, and convictions by lower courts were overturned on\nappeal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In its annual report released on April 15, 2019, HRCP noted, “The\nblasphemy laws have been grossly abused with many people lodging false\ncomplaints to settle their personal vendettas.” According to the report 40\npeople were currently on death row or serving a life sentence after being\nconvicted on charges of blasphemy. However, the country is yet to execute\nanyone for blasphemy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The decision of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to quash the conviction of a\nperson who had spent almost 18 years in prison for blasphemy, once again\nhighlighted how the law had been misused in the country to settle personal\nscore. On September 25, 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the prosecution\nfailed to provide substantial evidence against Wajih-ul-Hassan, who had been\nsentenced to death in 2002 for writing allegedly blasphemous letters. Brad\nAdams, Asia director of Human Rights Watch observed, <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n The\n overturned conviction of a man imprisoned for 18 years highlights just one of\n many miscarriages of justice stemming from Pakistan\u2019s vaguely worded\n blasphemy law. Typically, it\u2019s members of religious minorities or other\n vulnerable communities who are wrongly accused and left unable to defend\n themselves.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table>\n\n\n\n

The abuse of the blasphemy law is built into its very character. Under\nexisting laws, a person making a false accusation can only face proceedings\nunder Section 182 of the PPC, which entails a maximum punishment of six months\nimprisonment, or a mere PKR 1,000 fine. However, the punishment for blasphemy\nunder Sections 295-B and 295-C of PPC ranges from several years in prison to a\ndeath sentence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With international attention focusing on the continuous excesses of the\nblasphemy law in Pakistan, a Senate Special Committee on Human Rights on March\n6, 2018, had recommended that perpetrators of false accusations of blasphemy be\ngiven the same punishment as set for those convicted for blasphemy. “Anyone\nfalsely accusing someone of blasphemy should be subjected to the same\npunishment as a person convicted of blasphemy,” the recommendation stated.\nThe recommendation also stated that anyone looking to register a blasphemy case\nat a Police Station should have to bring two witnesses to support their\naccusation. However, committee member Senator Mufti Abdul Sattar, who belongs\nto the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, opposed the recommendations, terming them\n“an attempt to sabotage the blasphemy law.” Mainstream political\nparties are also unwilling to support the recommendation for fear of losing\ntheir extremist and conservative vote banks. Not surprisingly, then Prime\nMinister hopeful Imran Khan, during his 2018 General Election campaign\nsupported the blasphemy law, declaring, at a gathering of Muslim leaders in\nIslamabad on July 21, 2018, We are standing with Article 295c and will defend\nit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The religious right and mainstream parties in Pakistan are in complete\nagreement with the Islamist terrorist organisations on this count.\nSignificantly, pamphlets of the Punjab Chapter of the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP<\/a><\/strong>)\nwere found from the place of assassination of Shahbaz Bhatti. The pamphlets\nstated, “anyone who criticises the blasphemy law has no right to\nlive”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The blasphemy law in Pakistan is a critical weapon for both Islamist extremists\nand mainstream majoritarian parties and politicians, every one of whom has used\nSunni fundamentalism and Islamism as a tool of political control. The\nmarginalisation and victimisation of the minorities in Pakistan can only\ncontinue within such a political backdrop, and the abuse of the blasphemy law\nis unlikely to diminish unless overwhelming international pressure is brought\nto bear on the Pakistani state to shift course to a more humane and rational\npolitics. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tushar Ranjan Mohanty Research Associate,\u00a0Institute for Conflict Management Riots broke out in Ghotki town (Ghotki District) of Sindh on September 15, 2019, after a school principal from the minority Hindu community was booked on charges of alleged blasphemy. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) tweeted a video of protesters breaking the infrastructure of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-93903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}