Daily Times

The ominous spectre of blasphemy has raised its head yet again. A judge of the lower courts in Talagang has sentenced a man to death for the alleged crime of ‘blasphemy’. One can never definitely say that blasphemy has been committed because a) what constitutes blasphemy has not been outlined clearly in our laws — it can be anything from a torn page of the Quran to the throwing into the trash of a business card — and b) the alleged blasphemous material can never be revealed even in court because that would be considered blasphemy. In this case, the accused has been sentenced to the gallows for sending ‘blasphemous’ text messages via his mobile phone. The complaint was made by the man who was on the receiving end of these texts from an unknown number. The police was brought into immediate action: they formed a special inquiry committee and, with permission from the home department, traced the mobile number to a Mr Abdul Sattar in Larkana after which they wasted no time in arresting him. Such efficiency is extremely out of character for our police.

The courts also take on blasphemy cases with the kind of zeal and fervour we wish they had for other cases. However, the trajectory that Pakistan has been on for the last few decades shows how almost all alleged cases of blasphemy, whether they make it to the courts or not, almost always end in violence. The most recent blasphemy case to gain media attention was that of Aasia Bibi, a poor Christian woman also sentenced to death and sympathy for whom got Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer killed and Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti assassinated, both by religious zealots. The ‘crime’ of blasphemy was made punishable by death by General Ziaul Haq in 1982; since then the mere insinuation of a blasphemy charge has seen many of the accused (still to be proved guilty) murdered in cold blood, judges who acquit the accused gunned down and mobs inciting violence against entire communities without even a shred of evidence. This radical mindset has infiltrated the courts, police and citizenry as a whole; is it any surprise then that even text messages can land you with a death sentence?The blasphemy law has long been used as a tool for victimisation and injustice. If one wants a rival or ‘obstacle’ out of the way, a simple accusation of blasphemy is more than enough to achieve that nefarious end. For the sake of the many more actual or potential victims who are out there, if this law cannot be repealed it must at least be reformed to prevent continuation of injustice. Too many people have been made scapegoats for this not to invite serious contemplation. *