How Misuse Of Blasphemy Laws Takes Innocent Lives In Pakistan

The lawlessness that often results from the misuse or misunderstanding of blasphemy laws leads to incidents where losses of human lives and destructions of public properties become inevitable. Such instances of violence also cause embarrassment to the nation. The polarity of opinion and the sensitivity of the issue leaves hardly any room for a thorough analysis of this problem and we continue living in a state of denial until another incident of gruesome nature takes place and shakes us up.  What happened lately during the agitation of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) came as a shock to the nation.

The arrest of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) chief Saad Rizvi, who had been demanding implementation of the agreement signed between the government and the TLP for the expulsion of the French Ambassador to Pakistan because of his country’s support to blasphemous caricatures was the precipitating event that resulted in stark violence across the country. The ensuing protests resulted in the killing of four policemen and another 800 cops were wounded, as revealed by Prime Minister Imran Khan in his speech on April 19. One additional police fatality a week later in Hafizabad brought the death toll to 5. It is unknown how many protestors lost their lives. At no time in the past did the security personnel ever suffer such a high number of casualties from a single event in the country.

The government appeared to have been caught by surprise when a large crowd came out on the streets soon after the arrest of the TLP chief. This contingency plan was allegedly in place for a full week. The government, true to form, was reactive and ill-informed.

 

The government appeared to have been caught by surprise when a large crowd came out on the streets soon after the arrest of the TLP chief. This contingency plan was allegedly in place for a full week. The government, true to form, was reactive and ill-informed.

 

The video clips and photos that went viral on social media showed horrifying lynching of the police officials at the hands of the protestors. The policemen were not only beaten severely by the mob but were made to chant slogans. Even soldiers of the Pakistan Army, some of who seemed to stray into these crowds, appeared to be sloganeering in unison with the crowd — perhaps out of fear of possible retaliation from the riled up crowd.

Nearly one week after the beginning of these riots, the workers of TLP attacked Nawankot Police Station in Lahore and managed to abduct eleven policemen including the DSP Nawankot, Muhammed Umer Farooq. No religious or political party had ever resorted to such acts of unlawful agitations in the history of Pakistan and it was, in many ways, reminiscent of the militancy exhibited by the Tehreek-e-Taliban, Pakistan (TTP) in the past. Coincidentally, four days before this kidnapping, TTP had announced its support to TLP.

It goes without saying that none of the victims were ever involved in any act of blasphemy. Regrettably, this was not the first time the people of Pakistan had protested against a blasphemous incident that took place in the western countries. Records reveal that these have been regular occurrences since 2006.

In the last 14 years (2006-20), eleven blasphemous incidents occurred in foreign countries that include the US, France, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The irony is that the blasphemous incidents are reported from Pakistan as well and they are far more in number than what has been reported from the western countries. From 2006 to 2020, as many as 1,318 persons were reported to have committed blasphemy in the country. In the same time period, in France, 13 persons were extrajudicially killed on blasphemy charges. The number is 56 for Pakistan (see table below). Of these 56 persons, 2 were extra-judicially murdered by the policemen and 92 of 1318 persons were booked by the policemen on blasphemy charges.

Majority of blasphemy-accused poor and illiterate 

The majority of the people accused of blasphemy in the country were poor and illiterate but there were some exceptions too. People as prominent as Prime Minister Imran Khan, and former COAS and president Pervez Musharraf were among those who, for one or the other reasons, were accused of blasphemy. The list of prominent ‘blasphemers’ goes on to include people like governor, ministers, senators, political leaders, media house owners, and popular TV anchors.  Even the people from clergy, despite all their knowledge and understanding of the religion, couldn’t be spared of blasphemy allegations.

There is sufficient evidence to support the fact that blasphemy laws are both misused and misunderstood. Releasing a Christian couple accused of blasphemy, the Lahore High Court pointed out several errors in the recording of confessional statements from the accused and in prosecution of their case that had earlier caused the announcement of death sentence.

One might assume that such court rulings and the horrifying violence against the police force during the TLP (and prior) protests may have been a significant lesson for law enforcement agencies. That they may have learnt that use of religious sentiments only leads to stark violence, destruction of property, and loss of life. But this is not the case.

Following in the footsteps of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of Salman Taseer who murdered the former governor in 2011, another police officer Abdul Qadir recently hacked to death Muhammad Waqas who was acquitted by the court a year ago of blasphemy charges.

Even if the verdict of the court of law is not convincing enough, what methods need to be applied to prevent unlawful acts in the name of religion? If the law enforcement personnel are going to become law breakers what legal recourse is left for the people to seek justice?

Ulema and political leaders need to grasp the gravity of the situation and address the issue of the dramatic rise of blasphemy cases in the country and the extrajudicial killings of blasphemy accused. It is evident that statements and reactionary tactics are useless in the face of weaponised blasphemy.