Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

[KatDaddy]

Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

@chaibiskut

People who oppose repealing the law are making morally dubious arguments. One, how can you claim that repealing a discriminatory piece of legislation won’t make a difference? How do you expect justice to prevail when there is no legal basis for it? Citing poor law enforcement is not a valid reason not to repeal the law. Two, isn’t it every Muslim’s duty to condemn and oppose that which distorts and manipulates Islam? The Quran states no earthly punishment for apostasy, let alone death or life imprisonment for simply defiling the Quran or defaming the Prophet. If you quote a ‘scholar’ who believes in capital punishment for blasphemy, I’ll counter with another who doesn’t. The only solution is to take it out altogether. You cannot be familiar with the actual wording of the law’s text and claim that it does not enable abuse and misuse. It’s so ridiculous it allows criminal prosecution on the basis of “implied offense.” How the hell do you take someone’s “implied offense” and prosecute it in court? More importantly, why should they be prosecuted in the first place? Simply blaming extremism on illiterate mobs won’t do, the laws that sanction and encourage this mentality must go because they politically and socially empower religious fringes.

The Pakistan Penal code prohibits blasphemy against any recognized religion, so why do you need sections in the criminal code that emphasize the protection of Islam? Plenty of countries have laws against ‘hate speech’ that are not worded ambiguously as to encourage abuse, unlike this one. What is the rationale for supporting Zia’s blasphemy law? You are a 97% Muslim majority living in a country that has Islam as it’s state religion, why do you feel like your religious sentiments need to be protected to such lengths? How is it ethical to empower the majority at the expense of an already vulnerable minority population? Why aren’t harsh punishments being emphasized for the vilification of minority religions, which the state is required to protect according to the Constitution?

ChaiBiskut, Well said…like garam chai and Crisp biscuit on a rainy day.