A principal in Lahore

That the blasphemy laws have been misused blatantly over the years, often in a bid to settle personal scores or as a means to vent feelings of prejudice against minority communities is well established. Something similar seems to have happened recently in Lahore, where on the allegations of a local cleric, an FIR was filed against a school principal under the said law. According to the cleric, the school principal had made blasphemous statements and later on, put them down in writing in the form of a pamphlet. The accused has denied the charge, claiming that she has had an ongoing dispute with the cleric for the past two years. Another factor to consider is that the police said they suspect the school principal to be mentally unstable and will be sending her for psychiatric evaluation.

It is clear, therefore, that there is a strong possibility of this being a case of personal enmity, where the cleric has used his influence in the area to accuse the principal of something very serious, which has put her life and that of her family, in grave danger, with a mob of 200 people having stormed her house and ransacking it. The somewhat positive aspect here is that unlike past instances where the police have stood by as silent spectators — a case in point being the Joseph Town tragedy — they took prompt action, with the woman being sent on judicial remand immediately to protect her from unruly elements, and her family also being moved to a safe place.

It is now extremely important that a thorough investigation, which considers all the circumstances of the case, is conducted and the principal and her family given protection, strict action should be taken against those who ransacked her home, and if it is found that the cleric brought forward false charges, he should be given exemplary punishment. Given that innocent lives are often at stake, the burden of providing irrefutable evidence should be on the accuser. It is a tragedy that despite multiple calls to prevent the misuse of the blasphemy law, the dream that we can one day become a nation where tolerance and compassion guide our actions remains distant.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2013.

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