Pandora’s Law

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Pandora’s Law

23 December 2010By Aftab Alexander Mughal

Following the pronouncement of the death sentence against a Christian woman, Aasiya Bibi, on a charge of blasphemy, the case and the controversial law pertaining to this alleged crime are once again the subject of heated debate.

Aasiya’s case and the resultant prevailing situation are full of ironies. The state that purports to offer ‘special protection’ to its minority communities finds itself in a dilemma. Even before the president could consider a mercy petition filed by Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and appeals by assorted international human rights organisations to spare Aasiya Bibi’s life, the chief justice of the Punjab High Court, where the case is to be sent, has already issued a verdict: there is no room for pardon in a blasphemy case.

And while the governor – a PPP stalwart – has taken an unequivocal stand on the issue, Federal Law Minister, Babar Awan, also from the PPP, has made his position on the larger issue this case has resurrected, crystal clear. Stated Awan, “In my presence as law minister, no one should think of finishing the [blasphemy] law.”

Meanwhile, the Punjab Law Minister, the PML-N’s Rana Sanaullah, has said that he believes Aasiya’s conviction is a miscarriage of justice, even while his party is an avid proponent itself of the death sentence for this charge – doing away with the lesser punishment of life imprisonment for this crime during its time in government.

Aasiya’s “crime” was by all accounts a simple spat with two Muslim women of her village who refused to drink water from a glass she had touched because they said it had been defiled due to her faith and caste. The women taunted her and when she responded, they lodged a complaint of blasphemy against her at the Nankana Sahib district and sessions court. Aasiya, the mother of a special child, was arrested and has languished in jail for over a year on account of these charges. Now the executioner’s noose looms ominously over her head. While the mounting pressure on the government by activists on both sides (the anti- and pro-pardon for Aasiya) of the divide promises to engender heated debate, the outcome of this case will hold greater significance because of the bigger debate it has thrown up – i.e. the validity of the Blasphemy Law. Aasiya’s fate will graphically determine the ethos of the country today and the direction in which it is moving.

Some observers say that the Blasphemy Law is used to exploit vulnerable minority groups and encourage Islamist extremism. Photo: AFP

Several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Pakistan have long been calling for a repeal of the Blasphemy Law because it has repeatedly been used to persecute the minorities, especially in the rural areas. Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Technology Aasia Nasir, a Christian member of parliament said, “Discrimination against minorities is widespread. We need to sensitise the public and bring an attitudinal change to eliminate this menace from society.”

However, given the entrenchment of attitudes, that seems a near impossible undertaking in the short term. Prominent Deobandi and Barelvi clerics and the chief of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) Sahibzada Fazal Karim have declared in no uncertain terms that they will not allow a repeal of the Blasphemy Law.

The genesis of the Blaspehmy Law lies in colonial times. A blasphemy law, Section 295, was added to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in 1860 during the British Raj. In 1927, another law, Section 295-A, IPC, was added to prevent tension between Hindus and Muslims. At its creation, Pakistan adopted the same laws, ostensibly in order to promote religious harmony in Pakistan.

The existing Blasphemy Law, which actually affords ‘protection’ to only one religion, and that too being a moot point – Islam – was introduced in the 1980s by General Zia-ul-Haq. Through the introduction of this law he wanted to please Islamic parties who supported his illegitimate martial law government. Most controversial among the law are sections 295-B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Section 295-B, was introduced in 1982, which is against any insult to the Holy Quran, and the crime is punishable with life imprisonment. Section 295-C, PPC which was added by an act of parliament in 1986, made it a criminal offence to use derogatory remarks against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and made the crime punishable with life imprisonment or death. In 1992, during former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s rule, the sentence of life imprisonment was removed, and now the death sentence exists as the only punishment for this offence. Given the harshness of the punishments, Retired Justice Rana Bhagwandas, a Hindu, who once served as acting chief justice of Pakistan, said, “Who would be senseless enough to commit blasphemy in Pakistan?”

A woman walks past burnt out buildings in Gojra after accusations of blasphemy led to mob violence. Photo: AFP / File

That notwithstanding, hundreds of individuals in Pakistan have been charged with blasphemy. As a Christian leader pointed out, “These laws have been widely misused against religious minorities, as well as against many Muslims to settle personal scores. The Blasphemy Law is thus a danger to all Pakistanis, an affront to the rule of law and also against the concept of basic human rights and equality among the citizens of the state.” Human Rights Watch spokesman Ali Dayan endorsed this view, contending that the Blasphemy Law is used to exploit vulnerable minority groups and encourage Islamist extremism.

Well-known international human rights organisation Amnesty International chimed in, stating, “This law, while purporting to protect Islam and religious sensitivities of the Muslim majority, is vaguely formulated and arbitrarily enforced by the police and judiciary in a way which amounts to harassment and persecution of religious minorities.”

Between 1927 and 1986, there were less than 10 reported cases of blasphemy. The National Commission of Justice and Peace (NCJP), a human rights body of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Pakistan, reports that between 1986 and August 2009, at least 974 people have been charged for defiling the Holy Quran or insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Those charged include 479 Muslims, 340 Ahmadis, 119 Christians, 14 Hindus and 10 from other religions. In 2009, no less than 112 cases were registered against 57 Ahmadis, 47 Muslims and eight Christians.

In most of the blasphemy cases filed, people convicted in the lower courts have been released by the higher courts, but invariably they had to spend years in jail before they were deemed innocent. To date no one has ever been executed for blasphemy under court orders. However, about 34 people have been murdered by individuals or crazed mobs for alleged blasphemy against the Holy Quran or for insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

Photo: AFP

Many organisations have been campaigning for the repeal of the Blasphemy Law, which they think creates a wide space for discrimination against religious minorities, especially Ahmadis and Christians. And, while it is true that earlier this law was used mainly against minorities, a number of Muslims have also been victimised. The law has mainly been striking against vulnerable, poor members of minority communities who live in remote areas.

A history of blasphemy cases reveals that once a person is blamed for blasphemy against Islam, its holy personages or the Holy Quran, he/she has no place in society. The accused can be killed before the police’s intervention, in police custody or during his/her trial. Often the police fail to register FIRs due to local pressure. The courts are also not free from such pressures and have been known to convict people without concrete proof. And even if a court pardons the accused, he/she continues to live in fear since he/she is only too likely to be stalked and targeted by Muslim zealots. The more fortunate ones go into exile. For others, it is death or a life in hiding.

The Blasphemy Law has also created serious problems for the judiciary, especially the subordinate courts. “In almost each case brought before them, they come under such heavy pressure from agitators that they are afraid of applying their minds to the papers before them,” wrote senior journalist and human rights campaigner, I.A. Rehman in a column published in a local newspaper. Thus, campaigners contend, invariably decisions by courts in these cases are made not on merit, but under pressure.

In the last two months at least five blasphemy cases have been registered. Recently, three members of a Christian family were forced to flee their home because of alleged blasphemy. In mid-September, Tasawwar Masih, a Christian youth of Sargodha, was accused by Muslim youths of insulting Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and was forced to leave the area along with his family.

In Sialkot district, Punjab, another Christian, Walayat Masih, was charged with blasphemy. His accusers contended that a copy of the Holy Quran with a few of its pages burned was found in front of his house. A crowd of people gathered around Masih’s front door and it was only through police intervention that a lynching was averted.

In Lahore, three Muslim men, Shaheed Hassan Butt, Sheikh Shahid and Nawazish, were accused of having trashed some pages of the Holy Quran. The original complaint and the subsequent class action suit against them were levelled by leaders of the Ahl-e-Hadith mosque.

Photo: AFP

On July 19, 2010, two Christian brothers, Pastor Rashid Emmanuel, 32, and Sajid Emmanuel, 30, who were being led out of a court by a police escort in Faisalabad City after a trial hearing in a blasphemy case, were gunned down by a religious zealot.

On August 1, 2009, a Christian locality in Gojra, Punjab was attacked and nine Christians were killed, 18 were injured, and more than 120 Christian homes destroyed by a Muslim mob who were enraged by the allegation that a Christian in a nearby village, Korian, had desecrated the Holy Quran. Among the victims was 50-year-old Hameed Masih, who was shot dead, and seven of his family members, including women and small children (the youngest was just four years old), who were burnt alive.

On November 12, 2005, some 2,000 Muslims attacked a Christian locality in Sangla Hill, Punjab. They destroyed and burnt several houses and desecrated a few churches in the area. The attack was sparked by an alleged case of blasphemy of the Holy Quran.

On February 6, 1997, about 3,000 Muslims attacked a Christian village, Shantinagar (land of peace), located 10 kilometres south-east of Khanewal in the Punjab. About 80% of the village was destroyed. The mob ransacked 785 houses, 13 churches and over 1,500 Bibles, hymn books and religious commentaries were burnt. The perpetrators alleged that Christians had committed blasphemy against the Holy Quran.

Over the years, many attempts have been made to review the Blasphemy Law, but none have been successful because of the pressure exerted by religious groups – a small but powerful minority, wielding influence at all levels of government. The sad truth is that no government has had the courage to confront religious intolerance and the growing trend of violence associated with it. On April 20, 2000, former president, General Pervez Musharraf announced a procedural change in the Blasphemy Law, but within a month he backed down because of protests from Islamic parties whose support he needed to perpetuate his illegitimate rule.

After the Gojra incident, on August 7, 2009, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani hinted at a review of the Blasphemy Law. He stated that a committee would discuss “laws detrimental to religious harmony.” More than a year later, nothing has been heard of about this committee. The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Minorities, meanwhile, also proposed a review of the Blasphemy Law. Although his party’s stand is still vague on the issue, PML-N leader Javed Hashmi courageously stated in the house that the law has to be changed to prevent persecution of innocent Pakistanis.

He was not alone in his crusade. Last October, Pakistan’s former information minister, Sherry Rehman from the Pakistan Peoples Party, and Jameela Gilani from the Awami National Party, both Muslim MNAs, called for a repeal of the Blasphemy Law. Rehman has now submitted a private members bill in the National Assembly Secretariat calling for an end to the death penalty.

In February 2010, the Federal Minister for Minorities’ Affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, stated that the Blasphemy Law has been misused on several occasions and declared that Pakistan is planning to revise the law within the year. He maintained that this was necessary because this law has been misused on several occasions. In response to his statement, religious parties began demanding his removal.

It is interesting to note that two-thirds of all blasphemy cases in Pakistan have been registered in the Punjab where militant organisations have a strong presence. According to a report, from 1986 to date 4,000 blasphemy cases have been reported in the country. Of these, 69% have been registered in the Punjab, 25% were reported in Sindh and 2.5% in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The seven districts of Punjab that have had the most blasphemy cases reported are Lahore, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Gujranwala and Toba Tek Singh. The involvement of Aalmi Majlis-e-Tahuffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwwat and other hard-line religious groups can be traced in most of these cases.

It is widely believed that the provincial government of the PML-N has close contacts with the province’s militant outfits. Not surprisingly then, during the first week of November, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif withdrew charges of rioting and vandalism that had been levelled against different clerics in Lahore. Due to this kind of appeasement perhaps, militant groups like the Majlis-e-Ahrar and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, widely believed to be offshoots of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, which is responsible for almost all the suicide attacks in Pakistan, are finding it easier to operate in the province. “The PML-N has intellectual and ideological leanings towards the extreme right. The Punjab government has been cushioning extremism and does not recognise extremism as a real problem,” stated political analyst Hassan Askari Rizvi.

Against this backdrop, it is no mystery why the Minority Rights Group (MRG) International ranks Pakistan as the world’s sixth-most dangerous country for minorities. “Very often, mob violence and police brutality in such cases follow a sluggish court procedure subjecting the accused to lengthy periods in jail, legal costs and repeated court appearances,” says a MRG report. And Dawn’s editorial read, “Blasphemy laws have become a ticket in the hands of the majority to persecute and victimise the minority communities if they don’t easily submit to their inferior status in society.”

Prominent human rights advocate and newly-elected President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Asma Jahangir, has suggested that all blasphemy cases should be tried in the High Courts for more transparency. She also contends that all cases relating to blasphemy must be investigated by superior police officials.

Whether the parliament will show the resolve to follow such procedures, or even amend, let alone do away with the Blasphemy Law, however, remains to be seen. To begin with, the right-wing groups in parliament have dug in their heels on the issue and this government does not appear strong enough, either in terms of will or numbers, to be able to make any substantial changes in the law. But even in the unlikely event of this happening, minorities will only find marginal safety. Ever-increasing religious intolerance cannot be done away with by amending laws alone.

It requires a change of mindset. And that, only a focused and committed programme by the government and civil society together can bring about – a utopian hope in a country as riven by ideological schisms as Pakistan today.

URL: www.newslinemagazine.com/2010/12/pandora’s-law/

Interview: I. A. Rehman, Secretary-General, HRC

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Interview: I. A. Rehman, Secretary-General, HRCP

31 JULY 2010By Talib Qizilbash

“The blasphemy law is damaging Islam”
- I. A. Rehman, Secretary-General, HRCP

Q: You have been directly involved in supporting human rights in Pakistan for decades. It seems as though the rights of religious minorities have diminished over the years. Is this true?

A: It is true that the rights of religious minorities have shrunk over the past couple of decades. There are several main reasons. Firstly, the majority community (Muslim) has been following a more and more conservative interpretation of its belief, and the seeds of an exclusivist (hence intolerant) belief sown by Zia-ul-Haq have produced a bumper crop. Next, the wars in Afghanistan have thrown up a militant force that is extremely intolerant of any worldview other than its own; it uses violence to suppress all ‘others’ (non-Muslims, Ahmedis, Shias, Barelvis, et al). Thirdly, the political parties dare not distance themselves from extremists. Also, the government has neither the will nor the capacity to prevent persecution of minorities. The religious minorities are considered part of western or Indian communities or their sympathisers and are increasingly targeted in reaction to what is perceived as the West’s crusade against Islam or Muslim people. And finally, the rise of the new Right after the retreat of the Left in the West-ruled world has produced a backlash.

Q: How does the situation for religious minorities compare, for instance, to the current state of women’s rights and children’s rights?

A: Women and children are exploited. In some parts of the country they are gradually winning their rights while in other parts they are losing the rights they had till some years ago (namely, girls’ right to education). But Muslim women and children are not as badly off as minorities as they are not under a threat of liquidation. The non-Muslim women and children share the fate of their menfolk and are even more vulnerable than the latter.

Q: In many cases of violence against religious minorities, there is mob violence: people are worked into frenzy over an alleged case of blasphemy and buildings are burned, people are killed. Can the government do anything to fight this belief in mob ‘justice’ and to help instil the sanctity of the rule of law and every citizen’s right to a fair trial?

A: Mob violence has become the rule for two main reasons. Firstly, society has become more intolerant than before and has been thoroughly brutalised. Secondly, the clerics, judges, et al., have consistently propagated the view that the people have a right to kill blasphemers. The government is unable to stop such violence as its functionaries have been infected by the virus of intolerance and share the mob’s views; the government is afraid of the conservative population’s backlash; and the government’s writ has become weak in all areas.

Q: Our police and judicial system has been infected too?

A: Yes, the community police and courts have been infected. Ahmedis are killed in broad daylight. Eyewitnesses do not depose against the criminals. The police are not keen to investigate cases. Policemen themselves have killed blasphemy suspects. The system has lost the capacity to punish those who persecute the minorities.

Q: Is it possible to have “transparent and fair investigations” after attacks on minorities when violence and intimidation are often used as a tool by extremists to coerce the police, politicians and even the victims?

A: No. The extremists do resort to violence and intimidation to coerce the police, politicians, courts and even the victims. However, except for the victims, all others are amenable to slight pressure because they themselves are in various stages of conversion to minority-bashing.

Q: Has the HRCP succeeded in providing any relief to minorities vis-à-vis any changes in laws and any instances of usurpation of their rights?

A: I must clarify that not all acts of violence upon and persecution of minorities are rooted in laws and many of them can be dealt with under the law. HRCP campaigned for the abolition of separate electorates and this objective has been largely achieved. HRCP (backed by other NGOs) also succeeded in blocking the move to have a column for religion on identity cards, HRCP has consistently called for withdrawal of the blasphemy law and Ordinance XX of Zia-ul-Haq.

Q: From whom has the HRCP faced the most threats and intimidation in this regard?

A: The biggest threats to HRCP have come from extremists flying religious standards.

Q: Before the attacks on the Ahmedi community in Lahore in May, authorities in Punjab were told about threats against the community but no extra protection was given. Should the Punjab government be held indirectly responsible for the slaughter and in cases like this should people file cases against the government for a dereliction of duty in the hope of setting some type of precedent?

A: Yes, the Punjab government had been warned. It can fairly be indicted for the slaughter. It is doubtful if anyone will risk his life by filing a case against the government. You have no idea of the animus against the Ahmedis: hospitals are even afraid of disclosing that they have treated the wounded Ahmedis. Try to persuade the media to call the Ahmedis killed “shaheeds” or even to stop calling them Qadianis and you will find out where you are living.

Q: In terms of the Ahmedi community, it seems like it is more than a case of freedom of religion. There is economic discrimination promoted by the government via land auctions where those who oppose the finality of the Prophethood are barred from participating. How can this be legal?

A: Of course, it is much more than a case of freedom of belief. The economic, social and political motives have always been there. The government policies have fuelled discrimination. Further, Ahmedi-baiting is lucrative business. For quite a few, persecution of Ahmedis is a means of living and gaining social influence.

Q: What progress has been made in the fight against forced conversions and forced marriages in the case of Hindus?

A: Not much progress. In most cases efforts to recover forcibly converted and married girls fail. As a Hindu advocate puts it, the police, the courts and the community at large lack the capacity to do justice to victims. There are only a couple of exceptions over the past many years. Justice is possible where society and police have not totally given up their secular ideals.

Q: There have also been cases of land grabbing by way of destroying Hindu temples, Sikh property and Christian churches, and then occupying the land. How has the government addressed this problem and what solutions has the HRCP spearheaded?

A: Land grabbing is a national pastime. The government leads the way by seizing non-Muslim properties attached to shrines, churches, temples and public welfare trusts. The official managers of these properties are known for corruption. HRCP has not been able to adequately address this problem and it is one of the issues the newly formed HRCP working group on the rights of communities vulnerable because of belief has been asked to take up. As a matter of principle these properties should be restored to the original owners. As for trusts, their incomes must be spent on achieving the objectives their founders had set for themselves.

Q: Do minority MNAs and MPAs play any role in alleviating the problems of their respective communities or are they merely token representatives?

A: The minority MNAs / MPAs are not taken seriously by the government and it can easily please them. In the given situation, they do try to help their communities in the feudal way – that is, people close to them benefit more from their patronage/benevolence than those who are at a distance from them (just like the pure Muslim legislators).

Q: What initiatives have the federal and provincial ministries of minority affairs implemented in improving the situation for minorities in the country in the past decade?

A: In the past decade the most significant step has been the annulment of the system of separate electorates (not yet fully implemented).

Q: The blasphemy law is misused to persecute minorities or frame people to settle personal feuds. In its 2009 report on the state of human rights, the HRCP has recommended that the blasphemy law be repealed. Is this likely, and what would need to happen in both the public and political spheres for this recommendation to gather momentum and strength and be implemented?

A: Case studies have established abuse of the blasphemy law for petty, often personal, ends. HRCP is consistent in demanding repeal of this law because it is damaging Islam and causing havoc to the majority community’s mindset besides making the lives of minorities utterly hazardous. The repeal of the law in the near future is unlikely. This will be possible only when a large number of people (Muslims) realise the prohibitive cost of keeping this law active.

URL: www.newslinemagazine.com/2010/07/interview-i-a-rehman-secretary-general-hrcp/

No Room for the ‘Other’

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No Room for the ‘Other’

31 JULY 2010By Talib Qizilbash

Re-making Pakistan: Extremists are trying to paint religious minorities right out of the original picture of Pakistan. Illustration: Danish Khan

When Nazir Bhatti hit the streets on February 13, 1997 to take part in a peaceful procession, he wasn’t prepared for the backlash. Just a week earlier, in the village of Shanti Nagar in the Punjab, thousands of angry Muslims descended on the mostly Christian community chanting slogans and carrying rifles, daggers, sticks, and hand-made bombs – their blood was boiling over allegations that a Quran was found ripped to pieces and that Christian names were spotted scrawled over some of the pages. The punishment they meted out was brutal: churches were razed, Bibles were burned, over 700 houses were destroyed and 2,500 locals had to flee.

Around the country, people were horrified. In Karachi, Bhatti led a protest march involving over 1,000 people. It wasn’t long before things turned ugly. Police tossed tear gas and fired shots into the crowd, accusing protesters of attacking first. One person was killed and three injured.

As a leader of the procession, and someone who had stood in the general elections earlier that month, Bhatti was singled out by police. “Twenty-one false cases were filed against me in two hours,” says Bhatti. Murder and blasphemy were among the charges. “The police launched FIRs against 383 people that night.”

He spent the next year in hiding in Lahore and Islamabad. He tried to wait it out, hoping that the cases would be withdrawn. Fighting them wasn’t an option. “Getting bail for 21 serious charges would have been next to impossible.” In 1998, he fled Pakistan. He’s been in the US ever since.

More than 12 years later, religious minorities in Pakistan continue to be treated as second- and third-rate citizens. Each year there are hundreds of incidents involving threats, violence, fabricated allegations of blasphemy, mob ‘justice,’ forced conversions and land-grabbing that target minorities. From his home on the US east coast, Bhatti, who is the editor of the Pakistan Christian Post, says that most people in the Pakistani Christian ex-pat community in Philadelphia have faced threats and violence, including kidnapping and allegations of blasphemy.

Among those in the community is a former elected MPA from Punjab who fled with her husband after publicly speaking out against discrimination. “Many of those who have left do not like to talk about their stories to the press. They fear retaliation against their families and relatives back home.” Thousands of miles away and years later, minorities still fear the culture and systems that rule Pakistan.

Of course, Christians are not the only persecuted community in Pakistan. Hindus, Sikhs and Ahmedis are all threatened and vilified in what the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) calls “an xenophobic atmosphere created and promoted by conservative clerics and a section of the media.” Minorities are often placed at the centre of conspiracies against Pakistan and Islam. “They cannot freely practice their religion and present their point of view without risking their life, honour and property, as is evident from attacks on them.”

And violent attacks seem to be on the rise. “The year 2009 was one of the worst for Ahmedis in Pakistan from a human rights perspective,” said the HRCP in their last annual report on the status of Ahmedis. “Eleven Ahmedis were murdered for their faith. Since the promulgation of the anti-Ahmadiyya law in 1984, there was never a year when more than 11 Ahmedis were killed.”

No one could have guessed how much worse things were about to become in so little time. Eighty-six Ahmedis were killed and 124 injured as worshippers gathered for prayers on a Friday in late May in Lahore. The co-ordinated attacks were the worst to hit the Ahmedi community. “More people were killed in a single day than in the past 16 years put together,” reported the HRCP. This says a lot, since the persecution of Ahmedis has been constant over the years. In 1974, Ahmedis were declared non-Muslims and a decade later, General Zia-ul-Haq promulgated Ordinance XX that basically criminalised Ahmedi worship.

The persecution continues: Ahmedi families bury the victims of the May 2010 Lahore attacks.

The recent Ahmedi tragedy in Lahore on May 28, focused more global attention on Pakistan. And while international condemnation of the attacks was swift and severe, outsiders had already been monitoring the plight of minorities in Pakistan with concern. In the latest Annual Report of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, which covers the one-year period up to March 31, 2010, the government-funded organisation recommended that “the State Department designate five additional ‘countries of particular concern’ (CPCs)” for egregious violations of religious freedom; Pakistan was one of them, along with Iraq, Nigeria, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. The US State Department already has eight countries on their list of CPCs: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.

The report states, “The religious freedom situation in Pakistan remains deeply troubling, with further deterioration possible due to the actions of religiously motivated extremists, some of whom have ties to Al-Qaeda or to the Afghan Taliban. The current Zardari government has taken positive actions to promote religious tolerance. However, the government has failed to reverse the continuing erosion in the social and legal status of members of religious minority communities and in the ability of members of the majority Muslim community to discuss sensitive religious and social issues freely.”

Those “positive actions” referred to include the creation of a distinct federal minister for minorities and giving the post a cabinet rank. The post was given to MNA Shahbaz Bhatti, who has said he is working towards making revisions to the blasphemy laws.

“We are making changes and amendments in these laws so that these laws cannot be misused, [including to] create insecurity among minorities. We are in the process of consultation, and after consulting with all the stakeholders, such as political parties, Islamic religious scholars and Ulema, and representatives of minorities, we will table a bill in the parliament.”

But revisions to discriminatory legislation are unlikely to be enough in an environment where intolerance and mob violence rule.

In fact, society has become more intolerant than before, says I. A. Rehman, Secretary-General of the HRCP. Worse still, clerics and even some judges have consistently propagated the view that people have a right to kill blasphemers, he says. “The government is unable to stop such violence as its functionaries have been infected by the virus of intolerance and the government is afraid of the conservative population’s backlash.”

In Punjab, there is serious concern that the provincial government is septic with extremist sympathisers. Reports of Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah rubbing shoulders with Maulana Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, the leader of Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP), a banned organisation, at an election rally, do no wonders for the credibility of the PML-N administration in Punjab. There even were reports of MPA Sanaullah visiting the group’s madrassa. Besides being anti-Shia, the SSP was accused by Minister for Minorities Bhatti of being behind the Gojra attacks that targeted Christians in 2009.

Moreover, the Punjab government openly promotes the political and economic ostracisation of the Ahmedi community. Government land auctions purposefully exclude Ahmedis, even in Rabwah, the headquarters of their community since 1948 and a place where they should feel secure. During an auction this year, authorities refused to sell land to any buyer that did not certify that they believed in the Khatme Nabuwwat (Finality of the Prophethood). Buyers also had to undertake that they “would never resell it ever to Ahmedis.” Further, according to the HRCP, the DCO Chiniot, in a letter dated May 10, 2010, and under pressure from Muslim clerics in the area, pushed for barring Ahmedis from a land auction because “the Qadianis being rich in land will buy the land, and Muslim occupants who are at present in occupation of the land will be ousted. This will result in the strengthening of Qadianis in Chenab Nagar (Rabwah).”

In fact, there seems to be a concerted effort to weaken the Ahmedi community and non-Sunni sects. The federal government decided recently that it would appoint conservative cleric Mohammad Khan Sheerani to head the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), a non-political, non-partisan governmental body that advises lawmakers and the executive on Islamic law. The problem is that the appointee is a member of the JUI-F from Balochistan. Rights groups, including the Women’s Action Forum (WAF), have expressed their concerns over the decision. Dawn reports, “WAF said the stewardship of the CII in the hands of religio-political parties would negate any gains Pakistani society has made, and ensure that civil society groups remain enmeshed in defending the status quo instead of catalysing progressive changes.” Moreover, the move would take the top position away from a moderate cleric and put it in the hands of a conservative. The JUI-F is a Deobandi group.

And in April, using public funds, the Punjab government sponsored and held an “end of the Prophethood” conference at Badshahi mosque in Lahore. At the event clerics and participants burnt an effigy of the founder of the Ahmedi community and “unrestrainedly proposed the denial of religious freedom to Ahmedis,” reported the HRCP.

In Rabwah, Ahmedis have seen conservative forces being pushed into the community for some time. In 2006 the HRCP reported that certain groups were facilitated by the government “to hold the most provocative and slanderous anti-Ahmedi conferences at Rabwah,” the headquarters of the Ahmedis. “Aalmi Majlis Khatme Nabuwwat is based in Multan and Lahore, but they now hold their big annual meeting at Rabwah. Every year the authorities allow such three or four major events at Rabwah. Participants are often a serious threat to peace … .” There were also allegations that extremist anti-Ahmedi clerics were being installed in mosques in the area.

After the May attacks in Lahore, it is unclear how the investigation is proceeding and what kind of justice will be meted out to the perpetrators of the crime. The Gojra incident doesn’t set a good precedent, though.

Christian community targeted: No evidence of blasphemy was found in relation to the Gojra attacks. Photo: AFP

Last year on August 1, Muslim extremists besieged a Christian neighbourhood in Gojra, an area of Toba Tek Singh in Punjab. Houses were looted and burned. Eight people were killed. The riots were sparked by allegations of blasphemy against a Christian man, Talib Masih, who was accused of tearing pages of the Quran and using the paper in celebrations at a mehndi party for his son on July 25: the paper was mixed with rupee notes and tossed at the groom. Attacks against the Christian community started in Korian, Talib Masih’s village, on July 30 and they spread to Gojra two days later.

The Gojra attacks are a classic example of how locals take the law into their own hands. A group of Muslims first tried to haul Masih in front of a Panchayat and get him to admit to his crime. He wouldn’t. So they beat him up and that evening they ransacked Korian. Soon announcements were blaring over the loudspeakers of mosques in villages across the area. Local Muslims were riled up and told to punish the blasphemers.

A judicial inquiry headed by Lahore High Court Judge Iqbal Hameedur Rehman was completed in September 2009. The report, which has yet to be made fully public, recommends that those responsible for “commission and omission” be held accountable. The report also proposes amendments to Pakistan Penal Code sections associated with anti-blasphemy laws, including section 295 all the way through to section 298, which lists the anti-Ahmedi laws.

According to a Daily Times report, “The tribunal reached the conclusion that the riots were a result of the ‘inability of law-enforcement agencies to assess the gravity of the situation, inadequate precautionary and preventative measures taken by law-enforcement agencies, a lukewarm stance by the Toba Tek Singh DPO, the failure of intelligence agencies in providing prompt and correct information, a defective security plan, the irresponsible behaviour of the administration, the complete failure of police while discharging their duties, the non-enforcement of Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, omissions to take steps under sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC, the lack of a decision to invoke the Punjab Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) 1960 – which amounts to letting the miscreants loose to wreak havoc during the course of the riots – and several other factors.’”

An HRCP fact-finding mission that took place prior to the judicial review found that “no desecration of the Holy Quran took place in Korianwala village.” The HRCP team wrote that “though claims were made that desecration of the Holy Quran allegedly occurred in Korianwala on July 25, no case had been registered until 9:45 PM on July 30, shortly after a Muslim mob had attacked and torched Christians’ houses in the village. A number of accounts suggest that the Muslim mob attacked Christians’ houses and a case for defiling of the Holy Quran was lodged only after some Panchayat members who had been blackmailing Talib for money realised that he was either unwilling or unable to pay them any money.”

Eleven months later, after the HRCP report, the judicial inquiry and plenty of time for police investigations, the victims of the crime have seen no justice. Under the anti-terrorism act, charges were laid against at least 17 people, including police officials, but no one has been convicted. A member of the HRCP fact-finding team, Mehboob Khan, informed Newsline that all the accused are out on bail, but the charges still stand.

It is not surprising that the Punjab government has received criticism over the handling of the Gojra incident.

On May 11, the Lahore High Court directed the provincial government to immediately withdraw the appointment of DIG Ahmad Raza Tahir as Lahore capital city police officer. In Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman’s inquiry, Tahir, who was a Faisalabad regional police officer at the time of the attacks, was blamed for his failure in controlling the riots.

In so many cases over the years, police officers have not only been accused of failing to do their duties in instances where political and religious leaders try to rouse crowds into a frenzy but also been accused of participating in the rioting.

Photo: AFP

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia, Nazir Bhatti says things are getting worse in Pakistan. “The government is doing nothing. They always say they are protecting minorities, but there are always more blasphemy cases being registered against innocent Christians.” And it is not just trumped-up charges of blasphemy. “There are many cases of forcible conversions in upper Punjab. And it is not just Christians. They are doing the same to Hindus too.”

Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, a patron and founder of the Pakistan Hindu Council, says forced conversions are a big problem. “We filed a constitutional petition on forced conversions in the Supreme Court three years ago, but till now we have received no response,” he says. There seems to be little legal protection for minority communities when it comes to forced conversions. Girls are kidnapped for 15 to 20 days, says Dr Vankwani, and during that time, under duress, they are converted and are married. “Often they are told, ‘Accept Islam and you will be released.’”

Later, when they are allowed to meet their families, the girl is asked to give a statement about how she converted willfully. “Usually, when a girl gives her statement, she is crying,” says Dr Vankwani. “How can she give a free statement when in the custody of her kidnappers?” Only when they are alone, and not under immediate threat from their new ‘families’ do many of these girls find the courage to disclose what really happened. Sadly, the families of victims are also often too scared to register cases against the perpetrators in the face of retribution.

Hindus are susceptible to kidnappings across the nation. In Battagram in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where a small community of Hindu families has lived in peace for generations, threats of violence have been reported. The head of the small Battagram Hindu community was given a choice by the Taliban: pay Jizya (a minority tax) or be abducted, or worse, killed.

The Sikh community in the northwest has not been immune either. Hundreds of Sikh families living in Orakzai Agency have been approached by the Taliban to pay a protection tax, sometimes in the millions of rupees. Some paid, others didn’t. Some Sikhs chose to flee instead. In April 2009, a few unlucky ones who delayed their departure and missed a payment deadline had to watch as the Taliban responded by razing their homes.

Across Pakistan religious minorities are persecuted in many ways. A lack of tolerance and an unfair legal system create a situation where the cards are stacked against them. Bishop Ijaz Inayat of the Holy Trinity Church in Karachi was an outspoken critic of the Gojra riots. In fact, he is an outspoken critic of the state of the nation. “The population is not educated,” he says. “The majority of the people do not know a lot about Islam. As a result they are exploited by certain groups to maintain a crisis situation.” They are fed lies, he says. “They are told that killing an Ahmedi is jannat ki chabi.”

But he is hopeful that changes can come. “There needs to be a national policy,” he says, “a clear-cut policy.” He says it would involve both the government and the media. “The masses need to be educated that all human beings are equal. They need to know that this is an human issue rather than a religious one.”

Of course, with the constant misuse of the blasphemy law, it is also a legal one. The HRCP in its 2009 annual report on the state of human rights says clearly why the blasphemy laws should be repealed and why simple revisions won’t suffice: “Allegations of blasphemy or defiling of religious scriptures, irrespective of their veracity, do not warrant vigilante attacks. Nor do they absolve the government of its primary duty to protect all citizens. Effective prosecution of offenders would serve as a deterrent to future attacks, while a lack of it would encourage impunity. The federal government must take action to ensure that laws on the statute books are not abused to harass or ostracise citizens.”

URL: www.newslinemagazine.com/2010/07/no-room-for-the-%e2%80%98other%e2%80%99/