Source/Credit: Cowk | Article | Law
By Tahir Qazi | December 22, 2010
Dear Mr. Chief Justice: I speak on behalf of unheard victims of section 295-C, the infamous blasphemy law of the Pakistan Penal Code.
May It Please the Court!
Dear Mr. Chief Justice: I speak on behalf of unheard victims of section 295-C, the infamous blasphemy law of the Pakistan Penal Code. I believe your honor would lend a kind ear. There are more than a thousand victims of this law so far. Among them are Christians, Ahmadi and Ismaili Muslims and Muslims of other persuasions. All of them are the victims of religious fervor that has been on the rise since General Zia and his Islamist dictatorship, though there is ample historic evidence to suggest when Pakistan was born, she had a twin whose name was “Mullahism”.
I feel obligated to speak and draw courage from the history of your political struggle to ensconce yourself back into the chair of chief justice from where you were illegally deposed. Your political victory was meant to bring back the rule of law. Incidentally, it proved an important social principle: That, the political struggle becomes the way out when the system of justice fails in a society. I hope your presence at the apex of the justice system assures Pakistani citizens that they would not have to resort to an arduous street struggle for the sake of justice.
Dear Mr. Chief Justice: You have secured a name for being just about the only incorruptible voice in Pakistan. I gather you also have a reputation for taking suo-moto actions even when there are no constitutional issues.
Pardon my naivety but I saw many buildings half demolished on the court’s orders and billboards paying tributes to you when I visited Pakistan some time ago after a long absence. They lavished praise for the courage with which you ordered the rich and the powerful to demolish their illegally erected edifices.
Beyond trivial demolition of some buildings, I would argue, if I may, there is a constitutional issue that begs your attention. It relates to the Blasphemy Law. This law was enacted a couple of decades ago during the notorious regime of General Zia. The civilian and military regimes that followed have remained complacent to this law and unwilling to repeal it for the fear of reprisal from mullahs. The rulers in Pakistan have always tried to appease Islamists.
It is a known history that General Zia usurped the power of the state and got his unlawful acts baptized by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. It is also history that he hardly got any legitimacy in the people’s court of Pakistan. He connived with fanatic mullahs and also appealed to the religious sensitivities of the innocent people.
Reality may be different but politically, Islam has always been in danger in Pakistan. No wonder, the prophet of Islam faces similar fears in the eyes of religionists. Political motives for making a law are one thing but laws have social repercussions too.
Human rights advocates and the whole civilized world shuddered when the blasphemy law was enacted. Over the course of time, experience has shown that this law has become epitome of injustice in Pakistan. The blasphemy law was meant to protect the dignity of Prophet Muhammad. In reality, it is being used for personal vendetta in the name of prophet and it has turned out to be a tool to persecute religious minorities in Pakistan ever since its inception.
The prophet of Islam has survived for almost 1400 years and he lives now in the hearts of 1.2 billion Muslims all over the globe. He certainly has secured his place in history. Does Prophet Muhammad really need a law to safeguard his dignity in history and hearts of people?
The honor of Prophet Muhammad is in no danger in a Muslim majority country like Pakistan. On the other hand, section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code has practically jeopardized religious minorities in Pakistan. Almost all minorities in Pakistan have fallen victim to this law.
While a victim of this inhumane law has the right to defend oneself and even if an accused is successfully able to defend oneself, you know that it is an ordeal to do so. Even if there has been no execution for the blasphemy law in Pakistan so far, many of the victims of this law in Pakistan have been killed by religious fanatics while the others have suffered prolonged incarcerations. There are some who had to flee from the country for safety. In any event, human cost to the accused victims is always enormous.
The blasphemy law, the way it is written in Pakistan is very broad. It leaves much to the perceptions and emotions of the faithful and flies in the face of reason. This is a complete reversal of democratic principles in 21st century where, in a system of justice, reason prevails over emotions. Invariably, the blasphemy law in Pakistan does side with the emotions of the Muslim majority. The lower court judges who wish to render fair decisions are also afraid of repercussion for them in the current social milieu. This law does not have satisfactory ramifications for those who wrongly accuse others under this law. This law is discriminatory because there is no counterpart to this law that protects the founders of the minority religions from offensiveness.
The spirit of democracy is to protect minorities, not entertaining the paranoia of the powerful and the majority. Not only that, democratic principles are meant to protect citizens from excesses of the ruling class. Nurturing political interests of the ruling class at the expense of citizens is not democracy. The motive of the blasphemy law was an emotional appeal to the religious zealots for political purposes and it remains so.
History is organic in nature. It assumes a life of its own. The ruling structure in Pakistan is always made up of opportunists. There has been a conspicuous absence of statesmen like vision on the political spectrum throughout its history. Nobody ever had the courage to repeal this unjust law. Given the social reality, the Supreme Court could certainly create precedence.
Lately, a poor and uneducated Christian lady Aasia Bibi has fallen victim to this law. She has been in prison now for over a year. She is sentenced to death as if her death would protect the dignity of Prophet Muhammad more than the deeds of Pakistani Muslims. The most recent news is that an Ismaili doctor in Hyderabad has been arrested for blasphemy.
The blasphemy melodrama changes its characters but the reality does not change and the reality is that the blasphemy law is an unfair law and it is poorly framed. It is such a poor law that miscreants have availed it as a tool for persecution of virtually anyone. It contradicts the equal protection clause of the constitution of Pakistan and it does not protect the dignity of founders of all religions whose followers are equal citizens of Pakistan irrespective of their personal beliefs. This law, along with few other provisions of the Pakistani constitution, has reduced the status of religious minorities to less than equal citizens of Pakistan.
Dear Mr. Chief Justice: The blasphemy law is a nightmare for ordinary citizens in Pakistan when it comes to the basic human rights. A sizable numbers of individuals and their families have been violated in the name of this law. It defies principles of equal justice and the spirit of democracy in 21st century. It really begs your attention more than illegal buildings in some cities. Hopefully the Chief Justice will look into the constitutionality of the overreaching blasphemy law and, that will assure everybody the citizen of Pakistan that the justice is blind but not the chief justice. And, that is the best hope for a better tomorrow at this dark moment. A hope for a better tomorrow is the shared instinct of all humans.
“But we stand in life at midnight; we are always on the threshold of a new dawn (MLK Jr.)”.
I arrest my case.
Read original post here: Mr. Chief Justice: We Stand in Life at Midnight
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