Handling hate

We badly need a powerful law with plenty of teeth to be put in place to eradicate hate speech

New laws are to come in under the National Action Plan to strengthen the rather weak laws we currently have in place to tackle the dissemination of hatred. The law, or possibly a set of them, is to be drafted under the umbrella of “hate speech and inciting literature”. Work has already begun with clerics from various schools being consulted. It may be noted that the Council of Islamic Ideology, the country’s most significant body on laws pertaining to religion, has already advised a ban on hate speech and the restriction of mosque loudspeakers only to give the call to prayers and for Friday sermons.

We badly need a powerful law with plenty of teeth to be put in place. The suggestion that details contained in British and Indian laws, which proscribe punishment for hate spread on the basis of religion, race, ethnicity and other factors be studied and borrowed from is a good one. Our current laws have simply not been sufficiently effective. The fact that they are very urgently required has been demonstrated most recently by a small but significant rally staged on January 13 in Peshawar in which the two brothers who attacked the offices of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris were praised. Support for such violence has also come from clerics in other cities. This is an alarming state of affairs. We have also all seen wall-chalkings and posters expressing hatred against specific groups in many cities. The Lahore police last week made 58 arrests, filed more than 200 cases and seized mosque loudspeakers as part of an ongoing campaign against the spread of hatred. Their actions are welcome — but better laws and their implementation are required to back them up. This issue should of course have been tackled sooner. But the fact that it is finally happening is welcome. These laws must indeed be made as far reaching as possible to have a real impact so that a positive change can be instituted in our society, which has been badly warped by twisted, dangerous ideas that have been allowed to be propagated for far too long without any checks.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2015.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.