Kot Radha Kishan tragedy: Senator proposes inter-faith panels

Raja Zafarul Haq says such committees will address issues that threaten to disrupt communal harmony

ISLAMABAD:

A key leader of the ruling party on Monday proposed constitution of ‘inter-faith committees’ in every single district to help defuse communal tension and stave off an unpleasant incident.

At the same time, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz leader Raja Zafarul Haq said, it was the government’s job to enact relevant legislation.

“An inter-faith committee, comprising members from all religions, should be set up in every single district. The committee should investigate facts and address the issue [of blasphemy allegations] at the initial stage,” said the leader of the house in the Senate, Raja Zafarul Haq, during a meeting of Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs.



He was speaking after the committee reviewed a report on Kot Radha Kishan incident, where an enraged mob on November 4 had beaten to death a Christian couple and later burnt their bodies in the furnace of a brick kiln after accusing them of desecrating the Holy Quran.

“The [inter-faith] committee should ascertain the facts and in case the allegations are denied [by the accused], then it should drop the charges against them,” he said.

When asked whether his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) would introduce relevant legislation for setting up such committees, Haq said: “This is my proposal which I had given a couple of years ago as well; there should be discussion over it [in parliament].”

The senator insisted that such cases could not be closed by secretly shipping blasphemy convicts out of the country or allowing someone to kill them at the pre-trial stage.

Talking about the issue, he said: “We should also have to see what the majority’s opinion about the minority is. There is a need to launch a campaign to highlight the teachings of Islam.”

Haq said there is a need to revamp blasphemy laws and others related to worship places – made during the British rule and this job can be done either by the religious affairs miistry or by the Council of Islamic Ideology or by both.

Talking about the Kot Radha Kishan incident, Haq said the role of police is very important, adding that had the police taken notice of the issue on November 2 – when the issue first surfaced – and taken the couple into protective custody, the tragedy could have been averted.

The head of the Senate committee Senator Hafiz Hamdullah condemned the incident and said people tend to wrongly associate such behaviour with Islam. “It is the state’s responsibility to give protection to minorities’ [life, property and religious freedom],” he said.

“All those involved in the killing [Kot Radha Kishan], including the Maulvi, who made the announcement from the loudspeaker of a mosque should be dealt with according to law as it is the right of the state to award punishments,” he added.

Referring to a similar incident which took place in Gojra, Senator Hamza of the PML-N said the mob starts taking its own decision when such announcements are made from a mosque. “It becomes difficult to award punishment despite arresting people,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2014.