Catholic Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue and Ecumenism (CCIDE) secretary Javaid William, Pakistan Ulema and Mushaikh Council chairman Allama Pir Muhammad Zubair Abid, United Religions Initiative Coordinator Dr James Channan, Sikh representative Tranjeet Singh from Sayog and Hindu representative Amarnath Randhawa from Hindu Sundhar Sabha attended the briefing, arranged by the Peace and Harmony Network Pakistan.
“We believe that relevant ministries can monitor, protect and defend cases against persons accused of blasphemy,” the participants said.
They said that blasphemy laws had fostered a climate of religiously-motivated violence, and were frequently used indiscriminately against both Muslims and people from other religions.
“Nobody really wants to even discuss the laws despite the fact they are often used to mask violence motivated by other disputes,” they said.
“We want a safety valve for avoiding misuse of the provisions of the procedural law,” the participants said.
“In Pakistan, blasphemy cases continue to pile up, often following seemingly innocuous incidents. The worst part is that it has not only badly damaged the relationship among different religious communities, it has disproportionately affected the religious minorities as well,” they said.
They also stressed the need for revisiting the law. “This situation of suspicion, mistrust and hatred can be healed and this law can be used in a civilised manner. Besides setting up state-sponsored religious dispute-resolution bodies at district level, there is a need to establish an institution that can provide legal assistance to the accused in cases of false accusations,” they said.
“We believe in acceptance and a respectful dialogue between various communities so everyone can live with their own religious commitments and practices,” said William.
He said that every person must recognise the existence of people of other faiths in order to live in peace. “We must know that recognition and acceptance of people of different faiths is mentioned in all sacred scriptures and we have to play our part in accepting and understanding different communities,” he said. He asked the government to ensure that no innocent people were killed or harassed.
The participants demanded that members of the parliament and the judiciary should review blasphemy laws and rectify their shortcomings.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2014.
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