Daily Times

The brutal murder of renowned human rights activist Rashid Rehman is being condemned around the world. I met Rashid Rehman for the first time in Murree about 10 years ago where we stayed for three days together during the course of a Church World Service training workshop. I found him to be a well disciplined and committed human rights activist. When the news of his brutal murder reached me, I was not able to sleep for a whole night and found myself shaking with fear. The murder has shaken all those who fight for human rights in Pakistan.
Rashid Rehman was gunned down in his office last week for defending Junaid Hafeez, accused of blasphemy charges. Rashid Rehman had received many threats for conducting the jail trial of Junaid Hafeez and he reported them to the Multan Bar Association several times but no measures were taken to provide him with security. Junaid Hafeez, as per my information, was an English Literature student at Bahauddin Zakaria University, Multan. Last year, some of the university staff accused him of blasphemy. His mother approached Rashid Rehman and requested he take up the case of her son, Junaid. The veteran human rights activist, in order to provide the boy with a fair trial, accepted the case. The trial of Junaid Hafeez was being conducted in jail on the orders of the court due to death threats against him.
It is my reasoned opinion that Junaid Hafeez was roped into a blasphemy case due to the internal politics of Bahauddin Zakaria University. It is not out of place to mention that the concept of fair trial is embodied in the constitution of Pakistan and in all the world’s conventions relating to human rights. In Pakistan, the extrajudicial killings of persons accused of blasphemy are very common, which is condemnable in all senses. Here, in Pakistan, the general public believes that a mere allegation is sufficient grounds for conviction, which is not correct in the legal sense. One cannot be held guilty of an offence without a trial. The incidents of murder cannot be condoned and the government of Pakistan should now take reasonable steps to bring to justice all those who have taken the law into their own hands. The murder of Rashid Rehman has also made clear that liberal, secular voices in Pakistan cannot grow and, if anyone asks for justice, equality and fundamental human rights, he will be assassinated overnight. Even the former governor of Punjab, Salmaan Taseer, was assassinated by his own security guard a few years ago.
The blasphemy laws in Pakistan have always been misused by clerics who have roped in minorities as well as secular minded people in blasphemy cases. The US Commission on International Freedom (USCIF) has enunciated on various international forums that blasphemy laws are incompatible with human rights and should be revised. The British Prime Minister (PM) has also raised his voice against the blasphemy laws. Mostly, blasphemy cases that surface in Pakistan are politically motivated and also undermine the minorities. It is further observed that clerics and radicals have brought forward cases of blasphemy after fabricating evidence and facts. For instance, in the case of the 14-year-old girl Rimsha Masih, it was Khalid Jadoon, the cleric and complainant, who actually fabricated the evidence and concocted facts just to implicate Rimsha in a blasphemy case. Such tactics and techniques have always been used in Pakistan to threaten minorities, especially Ahmedis and Christians. Those accused of blasphemy, who have been acquitted by the courts, have either fled Pakistan or have been assassinated on their release from jail. Rimsha, for example, fled Pakistan and has been settled in Canada after threats from radicals and clerics. In Pakistan, that a person accused of blasphemy is automatically convicted is unacceptable and alarming. Mere allegations are not proof of offences in criminal law. In late December 2013, a senior pilot of state carrier PIA went on leave after being accused of blasphemy for allegedly disrespecting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The president of the employee’s association complained that the pilot had used derogatory words about the kalma or Islamic declaration of faith, and the Prophet (PBUH). A committee set up to probe the matter submitted its findings to the PIA chairman. The findings of the committee have not been made public but it submitted that the pilot was guilty of blasphemy. The pilot went on leave for his safety and his friends suggested he leave Pakistan.
In light of the above submissions, it can be concluded that the blasphemy laws need to be subjected to reforms to prevent their abuse by opportunists and clerics. The need to reform the blasphemy laws should be explained to the people of Pakistan by engaging religious scholars and the general public. Religion in Pakistan is being misused to gain political power. The blasphemy laws are incorrectly made because of which many innocent people are languishing in the violent and dirty jails of Pakistan. I agree with the Senate Standing Committee on National Harmony’s (SSCNH) statement of April 2013, when they met and discussed stern punishments for those making false blasphemy accusations. The committee suggested that the punishment for falsely accusing someone of blasphemy should be the same as that for committing blasphemy. Last year, after the meeting of the SSCNH, the Council of Islamic Ideology said that section 194 of the Pakistan Penal Code defines punishments for lodging a false case with the police and hence there is no need to amend the blasphemy laws; this seems to some extent correct. The need is to discourage people from bringing forward blasphemy cases on mere suspicion. Lastly, I connect the blasphemy cases with lack of tolerance in Pakistani society due to which blasphemy cases frequently surface. Pakistan can only get rid of its religious extremism and fundamentalism if it embraces secularism, otherwise I am afraid the state of Pakistan will not survive and we all will be affected by violence and fundamentalism.

The writer is an advocate of the High Court. He can be reached at greenlaw123@hotmail.com