Pakistan’s Anti-Blasphemy Law: Murder in God's Name
6 May 2013
Blasphemy allegations have fatal consequences in Pakistan, yet some are risking their lives to press for reform.
In Pakistan, it is illegal to make derogatory comments about Prophet Muhammad or desecrate the Quran.
Anyone accused is usually arrested and jailed, sometimes for years, before their case is overturned or sentence reduced by the appeal courts.
Such is the strength of feeling about blasphemy that the mere rumour of an allegation is enough to set the neighbourhood or village against the accused, increasingly with fatal consequences. In some instances, it is not just the accused, but their entire community who are held responsible and threatened.
On wasteland on the outskirts of Islamabad we meet families who have fled their homes in the city’s Mehrabadi district.
Despite the winter cold, they live in makeshift tents because they are too scared to return to Mehrabadi, after a member of their Christian community, 14-year-old Rimsha Masih, was accused of blasphemy last year.
Fifty two of the accused and their supporters have been murdered in the last two decades. Even in police custody blasphemy suspects are not safe.
In December 2012, an angry mob broke into a police station in Sindh province and beat a blasphemy suspect to death. He had been accused of burning pages of the Quran.
In Ahmedpur East in July 2012, a man accused of throwing pages of the Quran on the street was dragged by crowds from a police cell and killed, after being pulled through the streets behind a motorbike.
This sensitivity and climate of fear, combined with the inability of the criminal justice system to identify false allegations early, means the law is open to abuse. We hear how blasphemy allegations have become powerful weapons in settling personal scores.
Lawyer Joseph Francis runs the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) in Lahore, one of the few existing groups that help people accused of blasphemy.
In a safe house he introduces us to Ruqqiya, who says her neighbours accused her of blasphemy after her daughter got into an argument with the neighbour’s child. Ruqqiya spent three years in jail before being acquitted. Her young children hardly knew her when she was released. Despite the acquittal, Ruqqiya says extremists are still searching for her and she fears for the family’s safety.
Nawab Bhatti and her sisters-in-law have also been terrified since Nawab’s husband Zafar was accused of blasphemy and imprisoned awaiting trial, more than six months ago. His health in prison is deteriorating. They say the allegation was made by a rival party in a property dispute and used to get Zafar out of the way.
Human rights activist Xavier William runs a crisis group in Islamabad and helped arrange safe accommodation for Michael and his family after they were forced to flee their home. Michael says he was accused of burning the Quran by a former boss, after he left his employer and started a rival business. Michael and his family now hide in the compound in fear of attack, and wish to flee Pakistan.
Others, like Lahore-based journalist Shehrbano Taseer, refuse to leave the country despite the threats and the loss of loved ones.
"When it is being so grossly misused it is definitely time to rethink and revisit this law. The stories are chilling, they put cases on minors and mentally handicapped people,” she say.
Shehrbano’s father Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab, was assassinated after showing support for Asia Bibi, a mother of five facing blasphemy charges. He campaigned to reform the laws. Inspired by clerics condemning Taseer, his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri, shot him dead.
The convicted murderer was showered with rose petals and praise on his way to court.
Rao Abdur Raheem worked pro-bono to defend Qadri and said the bodyguard had no option but to take the law into his own hands and kill an enemy of the Holy Prophet.
As Pakistan gears up for elections later this year, 101 East looks at the devastating impact of blasphemy allegations on the accused, what the use of the laws reveals about growing extremism and what hope there is for reform.
=======================
Comments on Al-Jazeera:
Kommireddy Pavan
Pakistan
should be renamed Sunni (not Islamic) shariacratic(not republic) khilafat(not
nation)
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khansahb8
1
As a
Pakistani, I consider this to be a national disgrace
------
Sunny
Khan
As a
Muslim i feel like crying, how these backward specimens are ridiculing this
great way of life, Islam. The only true and pure religion now been hijacked by
these illiterate people.
What a
disgrace, these people know nothing about Allah (swt), Quran and the last
Prophet (saw)
---
ArenaCraftUS
Radical
Islamists and fundamentalists promote this bullshit. Why can't the Middle East
accept secular democracies and modern ideals?
--------
david
peri
perhaps
when men´s who kill in God´s name or use God´s name, then God will let them
live according to their own destructive perceptions of reality because
men/women refuse to listen to God´s own love and mercy for mankind on how to
live.
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naniyoussef
All
that Pakistan needs is education, reform, and a tighter rule of law...Also the
government should keep an eye on clerics; they can be very dangerous...
-------
ThisGuy4357
The
way I see it, the UN will eventually ban religions in general. They already tried.
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TheF86Sabre
ISN'T
RELIGION WONDERFUL!
-------
This
is ... ridiculous. If someone insults your religion, ignore it and move the ...
on. Who cares! If you actually believe in your religion then that person will
burn in Hell for all eternity. It's not your job to exact revenge. If God is so
great he can do it himself.
--------
Couchlizards
Pakistan
is the ... of the world and its people are the ... that runs out of it
--------
TonyFromUK1
The
guy who was supposedly stoned to death wasn't even wearing the same clothes
when he was lying on the floor. He wasn't wearing any. More west bullshit?
-------
ComradeAgopian
Yeah ,
it's a western CIA / Al Jazeera plot to sully Pakistans good name in the world
. No Shia are killed , no Christians killed , Hindu' can live their faith
openly . It's a paradise.
------
JamesArgos
Pakistan
is most likely going to fall into a civil war. The Shias, Sufis, and Christians
will ally and rebel against the Sunni led government.
-------
dooky1967
Islam...for
backward retards....
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pammyoneto
Bunch
of ignorant uneducated backward hypocrites. They don`t have the intelligence to
realize that when they lie and swear on the Quran, they are themselves
committing blasphemy.
--------
pammyoneto
What
horrifies me is that the people we put in power in the UK, import the mentality
shown in the video.
-------
mrnarason
plus one for Indians
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Couchlizards
We've
all seen what this religion has done to their country. We all need to stand up
and yell NOT IN MY COUNTRY !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Couchlizards
I'm
sick to death of hearing Muslims & Islamic Psychos claiming their Religion
is about peace and love we all know that this is all a ....! It's about hate
and Domination. Just look at what they did after that Innocence of Moslems
movie, here in Australia they had little kids holding signs saying “behead all
those who insult Mohammad" LITTLE KIDS! These primitive monkeys breed
hate. Then after the riot they try to tell us there about peace & love BULL
SHIT!!!!!!
------
elbombardi
Western
hypocrites... disgusting
-------
chkool8
Hamster
x is ... retarded. No one on this earth has a right to take away life. No
one!!!
-------
Hamster
X
So how
are the pre-Islamic souls (before @ 700 AD) to be judged before the fairly new
and recent religion of Islam came along? I'm assuming because Islam is so
strict that all those people are doomed blasphemers. Those retarded people who
were having issues with staying warm by burning paper to achieve that, didn't get
a chance either in a Muslim country, correct? So there is no such thing.
-------
nasrallah675
I'm
Muslim but I think that people should be called to Islam with love other than
violence.
--------
Bal
Krishna Parajuli
1.
After watching this video, I realized how religion can ... the people, society
and entire system.
2. If
you ever want to see the true nature of the person, give him power.
-------
alefstein1
NO
DRONE GENOCIDE
--------
tosoledo
"Many
people accused of blasphemy where innocent." Every one accused of
blasphemy is innocent. Insult to a non existing being is not a crime, stupid.
--------
Abdul
Azeem
Pakistanis
are crazy extremists just spoiling the name of Islam..YUSUF ESTES..
-------
MrFattyfatfatboy
I’m
Australian and those Christians must be brought here now, at the expense of
Muslim immigrants who will not be allowed in.
--------
MsColdCanada
As a
Canadian I agree as well. Put them at the front of the queue. Check ahead of
time that they don't agree with laws against blasphemy or apostasy (which as a
Christian they shouldn't). Delay the Muslim applicants until all the Christians
stop being persecuted.
---------
unseendemise
3/4ths
of the accused aren't Christians. Now what say you?
---------
khansahb8
1
As a
Pakistani, I consider this to be a national disgrace.
-------
Couchlizards
I just
can’t believe that Primitive monkeys like those poor Excuses for humanity Exist
in the 21th Century. There needs to be a death Penalty for Corrupt religious
Psychos
-------
Isaac
McHale
Sounds
like the Salem witch trials. Oh, that was 300 years ago, so it must not be
relevant, right?
-------
Couchlizards
And
the Muslims wonder why the rest of the world doesn't want them in their country
--------
Joe
Hoe
I was
in Pakistan 30 years ago....and the country has clearly moved so much further
towards extremism than it was 3 decades ago, when I could easily walk the
streets as a Canadian, and be just fine.
-------
getblunted4life
Pffft,
my Qur'an is colour coded, just like my bible. It's also been done (colour
wise) in the LGBT flag. Come at me.
---
getblunted4life
When a
book is worth more than the life of a person, then you know your society is
.....
-------
TheEsotericDesi
As
long as there's filth called Islam... there can be no peace... because that
piece of shit just doesn't believe in it...
-------
MsColdCanada
Blasphemy
should never be considered a crime punishable on earth. If there is a
punishment for blasphemy let the victim do the punishing. Surely God can judge
that crime for Himself?
---------
getblunted4life
Except
either god calls for action whenever blasphemy has been performed.
--------
getblunted4life
According
to holy texts, that should have been stated. Sorry.
--------
thesafewordisbanana
It is
sickening that people get killed due to the feverish rantings of an Arabian
.... Religion is the most evil impulse humanity has ever had to deal with,
because it brings people so easily to barbarism and cruelty.
-------
thesafewordisbanana
When
Mohammed had his 'visions', descriptions at the time suggest he had epilepsy.
Of course since this was the dark ages people assumed he was channelling
messages from angels. Does that answer your rudely asserted question?
--------
TheStoneSpiral
So
it's like how Christians used to claim people were witches. Witch trials were
farces as well; half the time people could get free bynaming other witches.
Those that died were innocent, and usually political or economic enemies of
someone else. Organized religion is a disgrace, and only ever seems to lead to
people killing each other in the most evil ways possible for no reason at all.
-------
pics4roisin
Yea,
but they still have sorcery laws in many Islamic countries go figure. Really human
beings are just awful and if wasn't religion it would be something else we
would kill ourselves over.
-------
TheStoneSpiral
'With
or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil;
but for good people to do evil — that takes religion.' --- Steven Weinberg
That
quote put a lot of things in perspective for me. Organized religion makes
ordinary people feel proud of being inhuman monsters.
--------
foresakenlion
This
is what you get in a nuclear armed Islamic country; consider this your preview
of Iran. They know the UN can't interfere or their will be nuclear war, so they
can just murder whoever they want.
--------
foresakenlion
According
to Judeo-Christianity their entire Quran is blasphemy and their prophet is an
anti-Christ who by rejecting Christ is a servant of Lucifer and Satan. Which
would explain the racism and mass murder.
--------
LittlePinky82
You
mean the extreme Christian's vs. the Muslim's? But yes it's according to a lot
of ignorant Christian's as is seen on this page by one. Of course never mind
the fact that the two worship the same God. Muslim's just don't believe that
anyone can be anything more than just a man. You can be a prophet but you're
still just a human. Jesus is highly respected in Islam as a prophet, but they
don't see him as a savior nor Muhammad as one either. They just bring messages
from God.
-------
KriztofferKriztenzen
The
U.S and India should invade the country together. Let's destroy this
Taliban/Al-Qaida country.
-------
FuJaaL
India
should feed its people or protect its woman from RAPE than think about invading
other countries .
-------
Hirnlego999
How
very Buddhist of you :P
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thesafewordisbanana
Then
Pakistan fires nuclear weapons in self-defence.... I am glad you are not in
control of US foreign policy.
-------
miksulder
Life
is Christ and death is gain
--------
pruebasdegajo
what
these Pakistani pigs are doing to Christians in Pakistan is intolerable, yet we
tolerate it and welcome Pakis in our countries, ..... why the hell don’t we
demand the very few Christian pakis' minimum safety????? politicians just don’t
care, neither people, we are being stupid
--------
xxxxxbriansanchezyyy
Melt
the extremist die you filthy... pigs
Allah Snackbar up your jihad ...
-------
HarunDanyal
I
don't think you know what those words mean, particularly Khilafat.
---------
simply2ghetto
No
buddy, it should be renamed the Wahhabi Wannabe nation.
Moderate
Sunnis are next in the line of fire.
--------
mispistoleros
"Murder
in God's Name"...isn't that what the Qatari and Saudi backed mercenaries
are doing in Syria? Oh wait, the House of Saud and Emir Al-Thani are Muslims in
name only.
---------
SuperChristianLife
The
Quran is full of hate, their so called God is evil because anyone who does not
believe in the Quran is stoned to death, hanged, shot or beaten to death. In
some cases they were burned alive. What so called God tells them that murder is
ok?? My God and My Jesus tells us to love all and to love those who hate you.
Christians are full of love and kindness; I would give the shirt off my back to
help a stranger. It's just how I was raised in a loving Christian home.
-------
mispistoleros
What
do you think Charlemagne did in Europe? Buy ice-cream cones for the pagans in
hope that they would convert?
---------
TheStoneSpiral
Epic
history tells about the blood drenched history of Christianity. Don't act high
and mighty when your own religion has been used to do things just as evil as
this.
--------
LittlePinky82
Lmao
honey the God of the Quran is the same God of Abraham and Isaac etc. You
worship the same God. And as someone else pointed out to you Christianity isn't
innocent either sweetie. Christian's are full of love? All one has to do is
point to the Westboro Baptist Church and the Catholic Church's leadership to
point that lie out cause there are very evil Christian's out there. Get out of
your bubble. "Allah" is God in Arabic. Educate yourself because
you're embarrassing.
-------
LittlePinky82
It's
obvious you have never read the Quran. I have read a good bit of it and they
have the same stories as in the Bible such as the Flood story and they highly
respect Jesus as a prophet. Muhammad was just the last prophet on Earth in
Islam. As I said before: you're embarrassing.
-------
LittlePinky82
Even
though I am a Christian myself I like to believe I don't live in a bubble where
I ... on people for having a different faith and calling them evil and all this
other childish ... and I own up and recognize that my own faith has done awful
things. Even my own sect of
Christianity
(Gnostic Christianity: Google it) has been shitted on over the many yrs by
other Christians.
-------
estylz1967
i have
to give it up to Aljazeera for this one good work!
-------
Ben
Willock
Al
Qu'ran 5:32 - “…if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for
spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the
whole
people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the
whole people.”
Al
Qu'ran 5:2 - "Do not let your hatred of a people incite you to
aggression."
By the
killing of innocents, those who carried out the killings are therefore going
against the word of Allah, and are therefore Blasphemers themselves.
-------
foresakenlion
Other
Hadiths say murder, terrorize and rape the infidels. Do not just single out the
two that support your peace delusion. Any American can buy a tablet PC now and
download a Quran and read what it actually says. And even then the true Quran
is in religious Arabic and is the most highly guarded secret of Islam, Muslims
never gave Europe a translated copy, Europe sent spies to steal your Quran to
learn what it said and then revealed your mass murdering book to the world, you
did not share it.
---------
Ben Willock
Err....."my
Qur'an"? Dude, I'm not a Muslim, nor have any of my ancestors ever been,
I'm English. And what's your point? I'm trying to
say
the Qu'ran forbids the action of killing another human being if said person is
innocent, which in a lot of cases is true. So, it seems like you're agreeing
that the killings are a bad thing, but just commented to squeeze in some
Islamophobe hate speech, which I don't think is what this was about.
-------
kertaspaper94
Looking
at these incidents, I'm starting to feel that Pakistan is a failed Muslim
country. Sorry Pakistan, but you can do better than this if you really want to
progress and project a good image of Islam.
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FardinFaryadTv
Pashtuns
sick people destroyed both Afghanistan and Pakistan. We do have to stay against
this wild narrow people!!
-------
Jjungleee
Pakistan
is ... cos of these backward narrow minded .....
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slovokia
I
predict AJE will make this video disappear in short order. Too much cognitive
dissonance for both staff and audience.
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morpheos111
The
same was said of the video "Shouting in the Dark" about Bahrain. It's
still there. AJE made a show about the killing of Baluchis, the Hazaras and the
Christians. It has made half hour shows about the bad treatment of migrant
workers in Qatar, etc.
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itsasin1969
"The
more devout they are, the more they see murder as negotiable"
-George
Carlin
URL: https://newageislam.com/multimedia/pakistan’s-anti-blasphemy-law-murder/d/11444