Another blasphemy case

The depths of absurdity to which some people will sink in abusing the blasphemy law appear to know no bounds. The case of a father and son being convicted by a court in Dera Ghazi Khan for the simple act of removing a poster from their private property illustrates the point made by the critics of the law: That as it stands now, the law is open to abuse and does an injustice to the legacy of the Holy Prophet (pbuh).

In this particular case, however, it appears that there may have been a miscarriage of justice even under the existing law. One of the men who stands accused of blasphemy is a mosque imam. The prosecution alleges that after removing a poster advertising a celebration of the Holy Prophet’s (pbuh) birthday, he trampled on it. This seems highly questionable, especially when taking into account the fact that the accusers are Barelvi and the imam is of the rival Deobandi school of thought. Might this be another case of somebody exploiting religion to settle personal differences? We think so and we are glad that, at least in this case, the defence attorney has put up a spirited argument and plans to appeal the lower court’s verdict.

This case is about as absurd as that of the doctor in Hyderabad against whom a blasphemy case was filed because he threw away a card of a pharmaceutical sales representative whose first name was Muhammad. The arrogance of the religious right in prosecuting these and other cases, and their assumption that they somehow have the right to punish others for a perceived lack of piety, is quite astounding. It would be laughable, were it not quite so tragic in its consequences. The events of the past few weeks have only further strengthened the case that the blasphemy law needs to be amended. If the religious right feels otherwise, they would do well to make their arguments in the hall of parliament, not the streets.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2011.