Islamabad (September 07, 2012): The government should take serious measures to curb and discourage the abuse of blasphemy laws and also enact safeguards to protectthe accused from mob justice. This was stated by the participants during the launching ceremony of ‘Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan: Historical Overview’ a report producedby the Center for Research and Security Studies (CRSS), on Friday, September 07, 2012 in its office premises. Renowned religious scholar and Chairman Ullema Council ofPakistan, Allama Tahir Mahmood Asharafi, Associate Professor Shairah and Law, Dr Shehzad Chaudhry of International Islamic University, Islamabad, journalists,academicians and civil society members, were part of the launching ceremony.

Alllama Tahir Asharafi said that Rimsha Masih case is a test case for the state and society in Pakistan to divorce its past of religious persecution related practices.

He emphasized that there is need to shun the practice of taking law into hands and prosecute the accused in blasphemy through mob justice. He observed that unfortunately blasphemy law is being abused by some powerful elements, both with religious and political backgrounds, to achieve their own vested interests. The latest case of blasphemy, he underlined, is aimed at vacating the Mehrabad area from Christian community to make a religious seminary over there. ‘The government should come forward to safeguard the innocent people against powerful lobbies and groups in the country’, he stressed. He said that there is need to initiate a healthy debate in the society to raise awareness among the people about blasphemy laws and to expose the people who are abusing it.

Mr. Peter Jacob, Executive Secretary at National Commission for Justice of Pakistan said that there is acute need to revisit and review the blasphemy laws in thecountry. He asked the government to take courageous steps to make the law more elaborative and erect mechanisms to stop its abuse. Dr Shehzad Chaudhry said that thegovernment should discourage the abuse of law and make it more in line with Quran and Sunnah. Amir Rana of Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies called upon the stateand society to initiate a new narrative in the country to counter the abuse of blasphemy law which is currently proving very taxing for the minorities and poor people.

He suggested that the government should engage moderate religious leaders from the religious backgrounds to generate a healthy debate in the society to shun religiousextremism and bigotry.

Overall participants were of the view that the government is missing actor in the recent abuses of blasphemy laws in Pakistan and it should play more proactive role to discourage these practices.

Excerpts from the Report

Blasphemy laws were first introduced in the Indian subcontinent by its British colonial rulers. Before that, orthodox Islamic jurisprudence was briefly enforced during Mughal rule on the subcontinent but history is silent if there were any blasphemy laws prevalent at that time.

Communal tensions between Hindus and Muslims before the partition of the subcontinent backed by political interests of different groups, including colonial rulers, were the main reason behind enactment of blasphemy laws.

As efforts by leaders like Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah failed to forge Hindu-Muslim unity against the colonial rule, tensions between religious communities began to rise. These tensions led to several communal riots in undivided India. Unscrupulous elements from both sides exploited the situation and left no stone unturned to create hatred against one another which also resulted in writing and publication of hate material by both sides.

The growing chasm between Hindus and Muslims suited the designs of colonial powers to perpetuate their rule and also provided them with an opportunity to enact blasphemy laws.

The British government promulgated four laws in the undivided India to deal with the issues of blasphemy.

Pakistan inherited these laws after it was carved out of India in 1947. With the death of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali within a year of independence, the newly-founded nation lost its way how to move forward, resulting in political chaos and intrigue, accentuated eventually by the military interventions.

The ensuing tussle and tension between the political forces of East Pakistan and West Pakistan gave an opportunity to conservative religious lobby to sow seeds of hatred among masses. There was tension between Hindus and Muslims in Eastern wing while in West Pakistan a forceful movement led by Majlis-e-Ahrar was launched against
Ahmadi, a minority sect seen heretical by the mainstream Muslim communities.

The Ahmadis were ultimately declared non-Muslims officially by Pakistan in 1974 but the Islamization drive by former military dictator General Zia-ul-Haq was the main reason that exacerbated communal and religious tensions in Pakistan.

He introduced tough changes to blasphemy laws, some of them Ahmadi-specific, which were later exploited by the religious extremists. Ironically, blasphemy-related cases have seen a phenomenal increase after introduction of changes into blasphemy laws by the Zia regime.

From 1851 to 1947, when the British ruled this region and the hatred between the Muslims and Hindus was at its peak, there were only seven blasphemy-related incidents but during Zia rule along (1977-1988) alone, as many as 80 blasphemy cases were reported to the courts. As a whole, between 1987 and Aug. 2012 we have seen almost 247 blasphemy cases registered or raised, directly affecting lives of some 435 persons.

Also, figures suggest that since 1990, 52 people have been extra-judicially murdered, for being implicated in blasphemy charges. Among these 25 were Muslims, 15 Christians, five Ahmadis, one Budhist and one was a Hindu.

The known blasphemy cases in Pakistan show that from 1953 to July 2012, there were 434 offenders of blasphemy laws in Pakistan and among them 258 were Muslims (Sunni/Shia), 114 Christians, 57 Ahmadis, and 4 Hindus.

Absence of democratic rule or little regard for due process of law has been the major contributing factor to the rise of communal tensions in Pakistan.

Coincidently or conspicuously the emergence of most of the dictatorship was always preceded by the communal and political unrest in the country.

We also see that in comparison to Pakistan, blasphemy cases and laws in other three Muslim states Indonesia, Malaysia and Iran are much less and much more moderate.