Offence 295 B– Defiling a copy of Holy Quran. Whoever wilfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran or of an extract there from or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable for imprisonment for life- Pakistan Penal Code
The Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) prohibits blasphemy against any “recognised” religion within the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with the accused most commonly sentenced to death. This rule of law follows former colonial laws drafted in 1860 to protect religious beliefs and customs within British controlled India. During this period of time there was increased division between Muslim and Hindu communities, to which the British implemented new laws as a means to diffuse tensions and continue a hold of power. According to official records only four cases of blasphemy were ever registered in undivided India and Pakistan.
Following the 1947 India-Pakistan partition, Pakistan drafted the blasphemy laws into its legal, political and social systems, as a means to continue to protect the newly found State from religious intolerance. What the country did not envisage was a drastic rise in blasphemy cases and for the laws to have the opposite effect. The laws remained unchanged until 1982, to which President Ziaul Haq implemented an amendment to include imprisonment as a legal sentence for lesser blasphemous statements.
The National Commission for Justice and Peace has claimed that in the last 25 years, 1058 cases of blasphemy were registered within Pakistan. Of the accused 456 were Ahmadis, 449 were Muslims, 132 were Christians and 21 were Hindus. Between 1986 and 2007, Pakistani authorities have charged over 647 people with blasphemy offences; however none have resulted in “official” judicial execution.
Calls for changes in Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have been strongly resisted by many Islamic parties and groups within the country, under the crude notion that “God’s law” was in the process of being altered. Prominent political figures including Salman Taseer (Former governor of Pakistan) and Shahbaz Bhatti (Former Federal Minister for Minorities) were both assassinated for their opposition to these blasphemy laws and for speaking out for the Christian minorities. What needs to be clarified at this point is that “God’s Law” as referred by Islamist groups in Pakistan is in actual fact a “Man-made law”, or to take it further in insult, a British Law.
Islam, a religion of equality, peace and justice does not project death and torture, but understanding and awareness. Blasphemy is based around a lack of understanding, and to take into account God’s first words to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) “Read”, there is an obvious notion to educate others. Pakistan seems to be a fragile State, whose “obscure” Islam defines its actions; a truer version of the religion would diminish blasphemy law’s and promote a more successful and fair State.
Pakistan’s opposition to blasphemy has caused the country to be active in the international arena in promoting global limitations on freedom of religion or belief and limitations on freedom of expression. In March 2009, Pakistan presented a resolution to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva which called upon the world to formulate laws against the defamation of religion. This again demonstrates how Pakistan is using religion to exercise its power however fails to understand official Islamic rulings on the matter. With the increased intolerance of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, fears increase that the country is drifting towards its strategic partner Saudi Arabia, a country intolerant of its people, religion and purpose.
The most recent case of blasphemy in Pakistan is that of Rimsha Mashih, a young 13 year old Christian girl, who many claim, suffers from down-syndrome and a low mental capacity. Individuals (3 alleged witnesses) claim Rimsha ripped two pages from the Holy Quran and set them alight, after which she was arrested and detained at an adult prison. Her family was also moved due to safety concerns, after Muslim mobs began protests calling for the death penalty to be issued as Islam had been “mocked”. Rimsha’s lawyers maintain that she did not commit any crime, but even if she did, she should be tried as a juvenile.
In new advancements to Rimsha’s case, a local imam was yesterday arrested on charges of conspiracy, placing the two pages of the burnt Quran into the young girl’s bag. This the court heard was an idea to help clear the Christian community within the region. The imam himself now faces blasphemy charges, with the outcome being the death penalty. Again, nothing has been learnt from the international outcry of Rimsha’s case, this is not about who is right and who is wrong; this is about justice, fairness and equality.
Rimsha is a victim like many thousands of other Christians in Pakistan, to which the blasphemy laws are discriminative, vile, unjust and, quite frankly, un-Islamic. Pakistan’s leaders say they are too worried about an extremist backlash to speak out against the law in a nation where religious conservatism is increasingly prevalent. So then what? Who will change this law? Or is to be left in God’s hands?
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