Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

To be fair, its not just minorities that are targeted by these laws. In fact, in majorities of cases its one sect accused members others sect of blasphemy to settle personal scores. And since the concept of justice runs in reverse under these laws, and burden of proof is on accused, accused has to prove his/her innocence which s/he never can...end results people end up in jail, and if they are lucky/unlucky they end up killed by rabid mullahs mobs.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

So, what you're saying is that since we can't do anything nothing should be done about it?

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

No. I am saying general rule of law has to be improved a lot. People are being tortured and murdered not because there is a blasphemy law but because the murderers consider themselves above the law. What happened to the murderers of Muhammad Imran in the CNN story? Does blasphemy law somehow restricts authorities from arresting and convicting them?

Blasphemy law, however bad, does not sanction or protect people killing other people they consider committed blasphemy.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

^^^ It definitely encourages lynch mobs to take law into their own hands & they justify it the name of religion.

And if you think laws don't make diff just ask any minority group that has face persecution b/c of discriminatory laws, btw.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

By all means, repeal it. Just don't expect the situation to get any better without responsible authorities doing what they are supposed to do instead of banning mobile phone usage and pillion riding. I am not sure these crazy mobs are aware or the existence, let alone the contents of this law.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Brother in another thread i quoted few incidents from india where mob lynched some persons on mere suspicion of being thieves,or slaughterer of the cow...

What is remedy for that?

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

True.

People just abuse these stupid laws to settle personal scores and vendettas.

Anyone can accuse anyone of desecrating the Quran and the usual Pakistani Mob with nothing better to do gather their sticks and stones and give the person communal justice.

Same thing happened in USA in 1600's, when girls were accused of being witches and girls were hanged like the Salem Witch Trials.

Unfortunately, this problem will not go away anytime soon.

Pakistan needs to first abolish this stupid law and then pass very strict laws against communal violence and mobs.

But that will never happen.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

burden of proof is on accused .... Shamraz Khan has identified the real reason
and yes I agree with Kakballi ... repealing would not help ..

1- there will be a bloody resistance to the repealing , ..as " Bandroon key hathoon meen ustra a geyaa hey... "

so that Ustra had to be taken away , and in their own way ...
and

2- the Mindset , thats very hard to change ..

but I think there is a remedy , we need some deterrent which severly penalized the false accuser in the first place ..

i am not sure ,but I think *there is a LAW OF QAZF , ...implement it in full force *

once the accusation is proved to be false , which in 99% of the cases happens , simply book , pick up and punish the false accuser without waiting for the accused to file the case .

at present , this Law operates only if the accused files a counter case , else the accuser get of the hook scot-free ,

Make it automatic to register a counter case of Qazf , I am sure punishing 50-100 or even 1000 or more false accusers and severely will bring a change in the mindset , since Qazf itself is an Islamic Law , so no one would dare to challenge it , and resist it , and it will impress upon every one , that how the laws are misused .

and after that , all those who would be earlier resisting the repealment , will be pressing for the repealment , because it will take the "....Ustra away from the Banders ..."

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Please find anything to support your false accusation. You will not find even One statement from me to support any murder.

You on the other hand wanted indiscriminate firing over a crowd with real bullets which is a barbaric act!

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

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?

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Blasphemy accused girl: Police file case against 150 violent protesters – The Express Tribune

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Pakistan's government can handle this in a way that outmaneuvers the religious parties by appearing more religious than religious parties.

Consider the background
1) Pakistan's blasphemy law is a distortion of justice where the burden of proof is on the accused, not the accuser.
2) Pakistan's blasphemy law contains no provision for repentance, which most scholars in the arab world consider to be a major factor in determining whether a guilty verdict should be passed for blasphemy.
3) There any many prominent Islamic institutions such as Al-Azhar which support laws regulating blasphemy, but propose more fair and equitable means.
4) Pakistan's religious parties would orchestrate massive disturbance if the law was repealed outright, or if secular parties were seen as designing a new law. Such disturbance must be avoided.

What is the solution?

1) The government should quietly sound out the perspective of several prominent international Islamic institutions, particularly Al-Azhar and the Islamic university in Medina, and scholars on blasphemy laws. It should select those who are critical of Pakistan's current blasphemy laws.

2) The government should announce the organization of an International Islamic Conference on Blasphemy. It should invite the aforementioned groups and individuals, as well as all Pakistani religious parties. The conference should allocate voting judges based on what percentage of the world Muslim population is represented by Pakistan vs rest of the Muslim world, so Pakistan should have 3 voting judges vs 15 from other countries. The goal of the conference would be to produce a 2/3 majority ruling that would be adopted as Pakistan's new blasphemy law. So if at any point, 12 judges could agree on the framework for a blasphemy law, this would be accepted.

3) Pakistan's religious parties will be put in a difficult situation. Their natural instinct to oppose blasphemy reform will pit them openly against prominent international Islamic sources. The religious groups will thus be co-opted into blasphemy reform.

4) The media should be requested to prominently cover the conference.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy


I'd like to see part of the law which authorizes accusers of killing the accused or doling out the justice as you are implying here.


I agree, if you try to repeal it today there will be even more uproar, it would be a great move if govt can claim that they are 'consulting' Jamia Al-Azhar to make the law in-sync with what other "Muslim" countries have.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

govt should have reppealed this law, right after two high profile killings of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti.
Sherry Rehman tried to seek amendment in the blasphemy law, sadly nothing happened.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

police finally woke up? However, I dont see how this step would solve this issue

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Just a reminder. Still waiting. :slight_smile:
Happy digging my posts. :khumar:

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

Post 70 should be mandatory reading for all members.

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

^Make sure the check is not bounced first. JK :)

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

I would agree with you if Salman Taseer or Shahbaz Bhatti were convicted under that law. The law is absurd, I agree. Would repealing it make things better? I don't think so. Why the killer of Salman Taseer hailed as a hero? Because of our mentality, not because of the blasphemy law. It is the fear of retaliation from the extremists that our authorities are not willing to convict killers of either.

In my opinion, you guys are pointing at the wrong direction. We have much bigger elephant in the room to deal with. The hate propagating madrassas and their financiers. Law or now law, they would insist on imposing their own will on silent majority. Politicians would continue to protect murderers for their own benefits. Police would continue taking orders from politicians. Life goes on.

It is so much easier to prosecute and convict killer of Salman Taseer (who has openly confessed) than to convict someone of blasphemy. He belonged to the political party which is in power. Everyone knows who the killer is. Why is it not the case? Is blasphemy law to be blamed?

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Re: Pakistan disabled girl arrested for blasphemy

We aren't saying that this laws repeal will change the situation over night. The point is to take the society back in the right direction one step at a time. Repealing this law will be just one step towards redefining Pakistan as a tolerant state. No one is naive enough to believe that this is the end all solution, but it is a start towards a long process of de radicalizing the society.

The reason people cite this law most often, is because its the most obvious, the most abused, and most repugnant example of the deterioration of society. Its an example of state sponsored religious extremism. People may still remain intolerant for the forseeable future, but the govt should not be seen to be promoting it in any way. Ultimately, if the fish rots from the head, then that is where the solution should come from and start from as well.