Curbing misuse of blasphemy law

KARACHI: I work in an office where the lady who cleans our toilets is from a minority community. For the last three weeks she has been coming to work in a state of severe anxiety and depression. One day, I asked her about what was bothering her. She burst into tears and said that in her mohalla, there were some Muslims who had been threatening her husband with charges of blasphemy if her family did not vacate their house.

I am a secular Muslim woman who is afraid to express my views in public. The blasphemy law, specifically Sections 295 (b) and (c), and 298 (a), (b) and (c) of the Pakistan Penal Code lend themselves to extreme misuse. Our history of persecuting minorities is a reminder of how the majority tends to treat the minority.

Since we clearly do not have a brave judge, advocate or politician who is ready to denounce these laws, we should do it ourselves. We should start a campaign to mobilise public opinion on its misuse and systematic abuse, which has been sanctioned by the state. The moment has arrived for our generation to stand up and fight intolerance.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2010.