By FM Shakil
September
15, 2020
Pakistan is
reeling under a new surge of sectarian violence targeting Shiite and other
religious minorities across the country, threatening new rounds of instability
in the Muslim majority nation.
Supporters
of Islamist party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan shout slogans during a protest
against the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad by French magazine
Charlie Hebdo, in Karachi on September 4, 2020. Photo: AFP / Asif Hassan
-----
The rising
trend is being fuelled in part by state organs and authorities who cosset and
align with radicals bent on violence instead of upholding their duty to protect
marginalized communities.
Over 96% of
Pakistanis practice Islam, of which anywhere between 75-95% of adherents are
Sunni. Shiites comprise somewhere between 5-15% of all Muslims while
Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis combined make up around 3% of the population.
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Over the
last month, four people including two Shiite Muslims, one Ahmadi sect member
and a US citizen who renounced the Ahmadi sect have been brutally gunned down
for apparent religious reasons.
Over the
same period, around 50 people mostly belonging to the Shiite sect were booked
under draconian sections – namely 295-A and 298 – of the blasphemy law as
defined under the Pakistan penal code for allegedly “insulting the companions
of Prophet Muhammad.” Penalties for insulting Islam under the law range from
fines to death.
Encouraged
by the mass filing of blasphemy cases against Shiite orators by the local
administration, thousands of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and Ahl-e-Sunnat
Wal Jamaat (ASWJ) Islamic group activists took to the streets last week in
Pakistan’s port city of Karachi against the minority.
Both
extremist outfits had clear backing and support of security agencies and
authorities. The rally pelted an Imambargah (Shiite religious place) with
stones as unruly radical Sunni mobs went berserk in the Imamia Lines Area.
A
Pakistani Shia Muslim girl holds a placard during a protest against sectarian
violence in Karachi, Pakistan in a file photo. Photo: AFP
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The
participants shouted “Shia Kafir”, or “Shiite unbelievers”, and demanded the
government impose a new ban on Shiite religious processions in the city.
In June,
Nadeem Joseph, a Christian who bought a house in a Muslim locality in Peshawar,
saw his home stormed by an Islamic radical mob. Radicals fired indiscriminately
into his residence killing Nadeem and critically injuring his Christian
mother-in-law Elizabeth Masih.
Mehdi
Hasan, chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), told Asia
Times that both state and society must be true to national founder Muhammad Ali
Jinnah’s vision, in which religion or belief is a personal matter and not a
basis for differences among citizens.
“Seventy-three
years on, the historic speech of Jinnah has sunk into oblivion and Pakistan’s
religious minorities consigned to the status of second-class citizens,
vulnerable to inherent discriminatory practices, forced conversions and
faith-based violence,” he said.
The
draconian Blasphemy Law was made tougher by former dictator Zia Ul Haq through
the insertion of sections 295-B and 295-C in the relevant law through an act of
parliament in 1986 which declared derogatory remarks against the Prophet
Muhammad as an offense punishable by death.
Worryingly,
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) government is
inciting, not suppressing, religious violence by exhorting people to kill those
who negate the finality of the prophet Muhammad.
PTI
Minister Ali Muhammad Khan has reportedly motivated people to execute those who
commit blasphemy as broadly defined under the local law. In an Urdu language
tweet from his handle in May, he wrote, “Beheading is the only punishment for
those who mock Prophet Muhammad.”
He made the
comment in response to a report that Ahmadis were given representation on a
newly established National Minorities Council. Ahmadis, declared as “non-Muslim” by the Pakistani parliament
in 1974, are denied most of their constitutional rights and are frequently
persecuted by mainstream Muslim sects.
PTI
Minister Ali Muhammad Khan in a 2018 file photo. Image: Facebook
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Another PTI
leader, Qamar Riaz, attempted to file a blasphemy case against former foreign
minister Khwaja Muhammad Asif because he said in parliament that all religions
including Islam were equal. Islam is Pakistan’s official state religion but
other faiths are protected under the constitution.
Last month,
Amnesty International earned the government’s ire by condemning the alarming
rise in blasphemy accusations across the country. The rights watchdog
underlined the need for repealing the draconian law, which put the lives of
minorities at risk, it said.
“The broad,
vague and coercive nature of the blasphemy laws violate the rights to freedom
of religion and belief and opinion and expression. They have been used to
target some of the most marginalized people in society, including children,
individuals with mental disabilities, members of religious minorities, and
poorer people,” the Amnesty report said.
Last week,
HRCP also raised concerns about the recent surge in blasphemy cases registered
against minorities, including namely the Shiite community, and the potential
for a dangerous swell of sectarian violence.
The rights
group believes that the state has abdicated its responsibilities under
international human rights law and left those arbitrarily accused of blasphemy
to the mercy of mobs.
Last year,
dozens of people were killed in sectarian violence, but the state failed to
apprehend any of the zealots involved in the attacks on minorities.
Ahamdi
sector members worship at a mosque in Pakistan. Image: Twitter
-----
Pakistani
think tank Centre for Research and Security Studies’ Annual Security Report
2019 shows that 28 Shiite and two Ahmadis were killed in targeted attacks,
while 58 others were injured in related violence.
The report
claims that there have been at least five attacks on Ahmadi places of worship
since August 2018 – two at Hindu temples and one at a Christian church.
There have
also been 13 blasphemy cases filed against Ahmadis, nine against Christians,
two against Hindus, and one against a Shiite over the period. In all the cases,
nobody has been brought to justice.
Original Headline; Killing in the name of God
in Pakistan
Source: The Asia Times
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