It must be noted that Naya Zamana has regularly published accounts of atrocities against Shias, Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus and missing persons from Balochistan.
Source/Credit: WiewPoint Online
By Muhammad Akbar Notezai | July 31, 2014
Day by day the liberal space is shrinking in Pakistan. Liberal voices are increasingly being silenced in the name of blasphemy. A case in point is the charge of blasphemy against Mohammad Shoaib Adil, Editor-in-Chief of the well-known Urdu-language liberal magazine, Naya Zamana.
About seven years ago Adil had published the autobiography of Muhammad Islam Bhatti, a former judge of the Lahore High Court. The accusers claim that, Bhatti, who also happens to be an Ahmadi, made derogatory remarks about the Prophet in this autobiography. A case of blasphemy has accordingly been filed against Adil, Bhatti as well as Ahmad Tahir, the compiler of the book. In a recent article posted on The Express Tribune blog, Adil is quoted as saying: “the clerics tried to attack me at my office and later at the race course police station.” Since the incident, Adil and his family members have gone into hiding. It is possible that Adil may not be able to return to a normal life let alone his journalistic career.
It must be noted that Naya Zamana has regularly published accounts of atrocities against Shias, Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus and missing persons from Balochistan. It has served as the voice of the smaller nationalities and religious minorities of Pakistan, and enjoyed good circulation in Balochistan, Sindh and South Punjab. Could it be that Adil has been implicated in the blasphemy case to bring an end to Naya Zamana?
Otherwise, it is beyond comprehension why the charge of blasphemy was brought seven years after the publication of the supposedly offending book. The case also highlights the fact that illiberal hardliners are increasingly using the pretext of blasphemy to suppress liberal voices in the country. The trend has been in evidence particularly in the Punjab where those standing up for the rights of the Ahmadis or Christians, for instance, are increasingly finding themselves being accused of blasphemy.
The most prominent case is that of Salman Taseer, the former Governor of Punjab, who, in 2011, was gunned down by his own bodyguard for supporting the rights of a blasphemy accused. Similarly, in May 2014, Rashid Rehman, a 53 year-old special coordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan was killed for taking up the case of Junaid Hafeez, a visiting lecturer to the Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan; he was accused of committing blasphemy on social media.
This persecution of liberals is aided and facilitated by the language used by the vernacular press and television talk shows. Many Urdu-language newspapers, for instance, employ terms such as “liberal fascists” or “liberal extremists”. Hamid Mir, a leading journalist, for instance wrote in an article published in the Jang newspaper on January 20, 2011: “A liberal fascist is the one who supports the US drone strikes on Pakistani territory, opposes the Islamic Constitution of the 1973, supported former General Pervez Musharraf and is now supporting President Zardari and is in the habit of naming his opponents as friends of the Taliban. The extremists and liberals are in the same group because both do not accept the constitution of Pakistan.” Kamran Shahid, Mohammad Farooq, Atta-ur-Rehman and Oriya Maqbool Jan are other such scribes known for opposing progressive and liberal views. The case of Hamid Mir is curious: after years of leading the charge against liberal voices and perspectives, he has now himself fled to the safety of ‘infidel’, ‘liberal fascist’ England.
While the English press, to a certain extent, accommodates liberal and even left voices, much of the Urdu press has been regressive. Since, it is the Urdu-language press that commands a large readership, it has a great influence on public opinion.
As for Mohammad Shoaib Adil, he had been at the forefront in bringing to light the woes of the people—irrespective of their caste, creed and ethnicity for 14 consecutive years. This is the real reason he has now found himself entangled in a blasphemy case.
Read original post here: Naya Zamana's editor gagged through 'blasphemy'
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