Daily Times

Laws criminalising blasphemy were introduced to India by the British in 1860, and further expanded in 1927.When Pakistan came into existence, it inherited these laws. Between 1980 and 1986, a number of clauses were added to the Blasphemy Laws by General Ziaul Haq’s military government, which wanted to Islamize them and also legally separate Pakistan’s Ahmadia community from the Muslim population. This was after the Ahmadia community was already declared non-Muslim in 1973.

According to data provided by the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP), a total of 633 Muslims, 494 Ahmadis, 187 Christians and 21 Hindus have been accused of blasphemy since 1987.  Interestingly, most of these cases are related to desecration of the Holy Quran, while there have been fat less cases for blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Unfortunately, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have a history of being exploited to settle personal grudges and target opponents.’ Those who have attempted to revisit the Blasphemy Law, hoping to prevent its exploitation in this manner have been silenced with brute force. Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was gunned down by his own security guard, Mumtaz Qadri for referring to the law as a ‘black law’. Federal Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti was also gunned down for daring to criticise the Blasphemy Law.

Last year, Mashal Khan, a student at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan was falsely accused of blasphemy because he voiced concerns about unethical practices by university authorities. Following the accusation, Mashal was murdered by a lynch mob. After a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) declared that it had found no evidence that Mashal had committed blasphemy, a number of his assailants were tried and sentenced. Although it was proven that Mashal was not guilty of blasphemy, religious political parties have declared his killers heroes, and protested the conviction of those of his killers who were found guilty.

The US is making a concerted effort to corner Pakistan. Talk shows blaming Pakistan for the insurgency in Afghanistan, citing alleged support for the Taliban and not doing enough to contain the Haqqani Network have become the order of the day. Bringing the harsh blasphemy laws in to the discourse appears to be a deliberate attempt to denigrate Pakistan

Pakistani lawmakers remain reluctant to revisit the Blasphemy Laws because of pressure from religious groups, and this state of affairs is being exploited by special interest groups in other countries. NailaInayat’s opinion piece titled ‘Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy laws deepen feud with US’, carried by The Washington Times, January 16, 2018 quotes Daniel Mark, chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom. ‘Pakistan continues to harass its religious minorities, has state-sanctioned discrimination against groups such as the Ahmadis, and tolerates extra-judicial violence in the guise of opposing blasphemy,’ Mr Mark said in a statement. The State Department announced the designation on January 4, the same day President Trump froze over $200 million in security aid to Pakistan. The administration said Islamabad had failed to crack down on Islamist terrorist networks operating in the country and was supporting, among other groups, the Afghan Taliban. Critics also say the draconian blasphemy laws reflect how Pakistani leaders have permitted radical Islamic thought to infiltrate the justice system.

It now appears that a concerted effort is being made by the U.S. to corner Pakistan from every angle. Talk shows blaming Pakistan for the insurgency in Afghanistan, citing alleged support for the Taliban and not doing enough to contain the Haqqani Network have become the order of the day. Bringing the harsh blasphemy laws in to the discourse appears to be a deliberate attempt to denigrate Pakistan.

This seems to have had an effect in Pakistan. In what seems like an effort to appease the US, President Mamnoon Hussain has amended the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 and issued the amended Anti-Terrorism Ordinance 2018. The amendments to Section 11-B and 11-EE of the ATA, the organizations and personnel banned through the UN’s Security Council’s resolution will stand banned in Pakistan too.

Meanwhile, the US and its European allies have tabled a motion with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) with a view to place Pakistan on a watch-list of countries considered non-compliant with global anti-terror financing measures. It appears that the noose is being tightened around Pakistan.

For sanity to prevail, there will have to be a concerted effort. The political uncertainty in Pakistan and the impending general elections make the task doubly difficult in the absence of credible leadership.

The writer is a retired PAF Group Captain. He is a columnist, analyst and TV Talk show host, who has authored six books on current affairs, including three on China

Published in Daily Times, February 17^th 2018.