UPDATES

Mob violence, human rights and Pakistan’s blasphemy laws

Aug 27, 2012 | Or Avi Guy

Mob violence
Rimsha Masih

Rimsha Masih, a 12-year-old Christian Pakistani girl who, according to some reports, has an intellectual disability has been jailed for allegedly desecrating Holy Scripture, after a local cleric claimed that she burnt pages of Noorani Qaida, a children’s textbook about the Koran, along with some others papers she had swept up. According to Pakistani blasphemy laws defiling the Koran is punishable by a sentence of life imprisonment, and others forms of blasphemy can lead to a death.

On closer examination of the case, it appears likely that putting the girl, and her mother, behind bars is claimed to be for their own protection. The case draws a sad picture in which one of the most severe implications of the blasphemy laws is “mob justice.”

Rimsha was turned in to police custody by the family’s landlord Malik Amjad, but he explains that it was for her own protection as he criticised the cleric saying that “He exaggerated the incident and provoked people.” After Rimsha and her mother were jailed hundreds of Muslim protesters surrounded the police station demanding that she face charges under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Her family had to be put in federal protective custody with the police admitting that Rimsha was arrested in part to calm the mob while keeping the girl safe. According to human rights activists, the Pakistani police often registers blasphemy cases merely to save the accused “blasphemer” or their own officers from attack, even when evidence is weak and charges are hard to press.

Now Rimsha faces a lose-lose situation; if the case goes to trial, she is likely to face life imprisonment. If she is to be released, she is likely to be targeted by an angry mob. Officials have commented that the charges are “baseless”, which means that Rimsha and her mother are likely to be released but even if blasphemy charges are avoided, her family is unlikely to be able to safely return home. Meanwhile, hundreds of Christians from Rimsha’s neighbourhood have fled their homes, after they were terrorised and intimidated by vigilantes.

This highlights one of the main problems with the blasphemy law – it encourages extra-judicial violence, including what are basically mob lynchings, more often than court-ordered death sentences. According to reports, while nobody has been executed under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, even suspected blasphemers are in danger of attack for the rest of their lives. Often defendants awaiting trial, or even those who have been released or acquitted, along with the acquitting judge, have been murdered or threatened with murder. Others have been forced to flee Pakistan. The most notable incidents took place last year, when Pakistani Minister of Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti and Punjab Governor Salman Taseer who criticised the blasphemy law were themselves accused of “blasphemy” for doing so and killed by Islamist extremists.

Rimsha’s plight highlighted a wider problem, as expressed by Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch: “This case exemplifies the absurdity and tragedy of the blasphemy law, which is an instrument of abuse against the most vulnerable in society.” The state’s ability to protect non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan is diminishing, allowing for wide and extreme forms of persecution. However, while Pakistan’s blasphemy law has been disproportionately used against Christians, Hindus, Shi’ites and other minority groups, some moderate and reformist Sunni Muslims have also been targeted. Human rights advocates claim that the law, which is frequently used to persecute Christians like Rimsha, has also been applied to the mentally ill, including Muslims.

Essentially, these laws mean that any individual from a vulnerable minority community can be subject to an allegation from a member of the Muslim community and as a result they will be murdered by a mob, imprisoned by the state, or at best, forced to flee into permanent exile. This gives scrupulous or extremist members of the Muslim community crushing power over members of minority groups and essentially renders the human and legal rights guaranteed to them under their country’s laws and Sharia null and void any time someone decides to use the blasphemy weapon against them.

The rise in blasphemy allegations in recent years is seen, even by moderate Muslims, as a reflection of the increase in extremism and anti-Western sentiment.

Or Avi-Guy

RELATED ARTICLES


Screenshot from a tiktok video showing Palestinian Islamic Jihad rockets being launched at Israel from amidst civilians in a heavily populated area of Gaza

“Shield and Arrow”: Yet another Gaza conflict

May 12, 2023 | Update
Israelis celebrating Independence Day (Yom  Ha'atzmaut) in Tel Aviv (Photo: Shutterstock, Orlov Sergei)

Reflections on Israel’s 75th Birthday

May 3, 2023 | Update
Israeli PM Binyamin Netanyahu announces a pause in his Government's judicial reform plans in a televised address on Monday, March 27  (Image: Youtube screenshot)

Israel’s controversial judicial reforms put on hold

Mar 29, 2023 | Update
Image: Shutterstock

The implications of the Iran-Saudi deal

Mar 17, 2023 | Update
A joint air force drill during the Israel-US "Juniper Oak" military exercises in January, which were widely interpreted as sending a signal to Iran (Image: Pentagon)

New diplomatic strategies with Iran for 2023

Mar 10, 2023 | Update
Screenshot from a video showing radical Israeli rioters torching Palestinian homes in the West Bank town of Huwara (Image: Twitter)

West Bank unrest escalates following violent riots by Jewish protesters in Huwara

Mar 1, 2023 | Update

SIGN UP FOR AIJAC EMAILS

RECENT POSTS

Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders attend a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader in Teheran, Iran (Image via Iran’s Supreme Leader’s website)

Essay: A New Multifront Strategy?

Erdogan vs. Kilicdaroglu: The former looks all but guaranteed to win a second round on May 29 (Image: Tolga Ildun/ Shutterstock)

What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Netanyahu (right), with Defence Minister Gallant (top left), IDF Chief of Staff Halevi (bottom left) and other security officials (Image: GPO/ Flickr)

Israeli politics after “Shield and Arrow”

Biblio File: A Bob One Way

A scene from the movie BlacKkKlansman, which recalls an era of Blacks and Jews making common cause

Europa Europa: Antisemitism is its own thing

Senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commanders attend a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader in Teheran, Iran (Image via Iran’s Supreme Leader’s website)

Essay: A New Multifront Strategy?

Erdogan vs. Kilicdaroglu: The former looks all but guaranteed to win a second round on May 29 (Image: Tolga Ildun/ Shutterstock)

What does Turkey’s election mean for Israel?

Netanyahu (right), with Defence Minister Gallant (top left), IDF Chief of Staff Halevi (bottom left) and other security officials (Image: GPO/ Flickr)

Israeli politics after “Shield and Arrow”

Biblio File: A Bob One Way

A scene from the movie BlacKkKlansman, which recalls an era of Blacks and Jews making common cause

Europa Europa: Antisemitism is its own thing

SORT BY TOPICS