Pakistani court extends pre-arrest bail to PM Shehbaz Sharif in Rs 14-billion money laundering caseObservers say false blasphemy cases against the minorities, Hindus and Christians in particular, have been a routine in Pakistan.
On July 4, 2022, a Pakistani court sentenced to death Ashfaq Masih. Apparently, Masih had been imprisoned for the last five years. He had been accused of committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammed. The real story, however, is far different. Masih, a Christian by faith and motor mechanic by occupation, had committed no blasphemy. Five years earlier, on June 5, 2017, he had gotten into a quarrel with one Muhammad Naveed, who happened to be running another mechanic workshop near his. Naveed targeted Masih's business. For this, he hatched a conspiracy with one Muhammad Irfan.
On June 6, Irfan came to Masih's shop for a wheel balancing of his motorbike. When Masih demanded fee for his labour, Irfan refused, saying, "I am a follower of Peer Fakhir [a Muslim ascetic]; don't ask for money from me." When Masih insisted, Irfan went to the shop of Naveed and both lodged an FIR against him, accusing Masih of insulting the Prophet. Naveed and Irfan also got two other Muslims-Muhammad Nawaz and Muhammad Tahir-to tell the police that they had "heard Masih say derogatory words against the Muslim prophet."
The prosecution declared, "On 15 June 2017, at 12 noon, accused Ashfaq Masih, while sitting in shop, was uttering blasphemous words about Prophet Muhammad and said words [that] could not be restated."
In the court, Judge Khalid Wazir overlooked Masih's defence argument and simply said, "It could not be believed that a Muslim will spin a story in this regard."
Pakistani court extends pre-arrest bail to PM Shehbaz Sharif in Rs 14-billion money laundering case
Observers say such false blasphemy cases against the minorities, Hindus and Christians in particular, have been a routine in Pakistan. The nation was founded in the name of Islam in 1947. Since then, the successive dispensations in Pakistan have increasingly pandered to the radical Islamist elements' wishes much to the detriment of all those who do not believe in or question them. Pakistan dictator General Zia ul Haq came to put the country on the road to radical Islamization. The predicament of the minorities has turned worse since then in Pakistan.
The tragedy of the minorities in Pakistan can be attributed to the absence of reasonable and fair rule of law in the country. There is often too much pressure of the radical Islamists on the judiciary, lower courts in particular, to deliver the kind of judgement they wish to. Courtrooms in the country just host some kind of kangaroo show-trials in blasphemy cases and do the radical Islamists' bidding.
The observers opine that liberal, progressives elements in Pakistan need to assert for a genuine democracy-a system that is fair to the entire society, including its minorities-to prevail in the country. They may campaign to abrogate Section 295-C of Pakistan's penal code. This code states: "Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine."
Experience says that this provision in the country's penal code has regularly been exploited by the anti-social elements to settle their own personal grudges against non-Muslim minorities in the country.
(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)
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