Daily Times

Clearly Pakistan’s decades’ old tryst with state-sponsored Islamism has been a miserable failure. Faith has been unable to reverse the country’s slide into chaos, fragmentation and turmoil. In fact, the historic kowtowing to religious groups has strengthened widespread militancy and factionalism in the country. Pakistan now finds itself at the crossroads in its existential struggle against extremism and terrorism. One feels that this fight is unwinnable without the rollback of Islamism rooted in policies, laws and institutions.

Probably the most egregious example of man-made religious laws in Pakistan is the one to do with blasphemy. Based on its remarkably broad language, virtually anyone can register a blasphemy case against anyone else in Pakistan, and the accused can face capital punishment. The blasphemy law has encouraged vigilante violence against the weak and defenceless. It has led to the assassination of judges, lawyers and politicians. Moreover, the law is viewed as inward-looking, insular and vengeful sullying the country’s image abroad. Failure to repeal the law or even to deal with its worst excesses has reinforced the impression that successive governments (both civilian and military) were not ready to face religious fanaticism head on.

Furthermore, in Pakistan — as may be true of other countries with blasphemy laws — terrorism and blasphemy are inextricably intertwined. Any counter-terrorism strategy cannot neglect the vital significance of the blasphemy laws in Pakistan, which give oxygen to groups like the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Indeed, the TTP, Pakistan’s most dangerous terrorist organization, has made attacking blasphemy its raison d’être. For example, in 2011, the TTP Punjab issued the following pamphlet addressed to “all the world’s infidels, crusaders, Jews and their operatives within the Muslim Brotherhood: in your fight against Allah, you have become so bold that you act in favour of and support those who insult the Prophet (PBUH). With the grace of Allah, the warriors of Islam will pick you out one by one and send you to hell, God willing.” In 2012, one TTP spokesperson rallied all the Muslim youth of Pakistan to fight blasphemy, saying: “Zionist and crusader enemies of Islam are insulting the signs of Islam everywhere.” The TTP’s objective is apparent: silence those who threaten, however indirectly, Pakistan’s status as an Islamic state.

The religious lobby uses the blasphemy law as another tool of repression, coercion and persecution to keep a hapless society in submission. Over the years, the self-appointed ‘defenders of Islam’ have swelled as the country drifted to the right, and the number of people caught up in the ‘blasphemy net’ has increased. Many people have either been unjustly charged with blasphemy or deprived of their right to due process in such cases. The blasphemy law is used politically and applied disproportionately to non-Muslims. All Islamic teachings about peace and forgiveness take a back seat to pervasive discrimination, intolerance, and violence.

Asking for the repeal of the blasphemy laws is not about wishing to deny people the right to feel offended or to defend their beliefs; these rights should be available for the religious and the non-believer alike. And this is what it finally comes down to: feelings, beliefs and opinions. Most believers would agree that God is capable on inflicting a heavenly punishment on blasphemers, so banning religious offence is about sparing the feelings of believers on earth. But criminalising opinions and beliefs has proved to be dangerous and dividing, so on this earth people must take precedence over hurt feelings. A state that fails to protect the rights of individuals to respond to their belief (or disbelief) in God is more likely to leave other essential liberties unprotected. And a society in which the life and dignity of the human person is not respected is more likely to become a hothouse for violent ideas, beliefs and actions. Also, debate and sane, humane respectable criticism of any religion makes it stronger. In the present day, people should fall in love with religion than be coerced or scared into it.

Admittedly, prospects for the urgent repeal of the blasphemy law in Pakistan are dim due to huge social and political challenges. The government and the state are reluctant to challenge the legions of mullahs (religious clerics). There is little national commitment to ending the privileging of religion in a state that rapidly disowned secular values since its creation. It cannot be ignored, however, that extremism and obscurantism are firmly imbedded in society. It is also linked to unjust religious laws. It is a problem that endangers people not only in Pakistan but ultimately many others around the world. The blasphemy apparatus emboldens terrorists to commit crimes against humanity with impunity. Any national or international strategy to curb terrorism must evaluate how terrorists use the cause and cover of the blasphemy laws to legitimise their ambitions and objectives. Efforts to repeal or reform the blasphemy laws are a critical step in delegitimising the most dangerous organisations in the world.

The writer can be reached at shgcci@gmail.com