THE Objectives Resolution of 1949 betrayed the vision of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the country’s founding father. He set forth the goal of a tolerant, progressive and inclusive Pakistanin his speech to the Constituent Assembly on 11th August 1947. There he said: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other place or worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the State.” Pakistan has paid the highest price to the scourge of religious extremism, fanaticism and bigotry. So far 80,000 Pakistanis have been killed by the forces of religious fanaticism and sectarian forces and countless more have received grievous injuries leaving them paralysed or crippled for life.
The year 2024 started with another show of the cancer of religious fanaticism. A young women was accused of blasphemy in the Icchra Bazaar in Lahore and narrowly missed being lynched by a supercharged mob of religious fanatics led by the local clerics, just because she was wearing a dress with some words in Arabic calligraphy. She was fortunate enough to be rescued by a brave female police officer just in the nick of time. In December 2021, the Sri Lankan manager of a factory in Sialkot was beaten to death and set ablaze by a mob over allegations of blasphemy that turned out to be spurious. The woman in Lahore with the dress bearing Arabic language words was lucky that she escaped a similar fate. The latest incident of religious fanaticism was nothing but a cruel demonstration of extremism and bigotry because the targeted woman was wearing a dress with the word “Halwa” in a calligraphic Arabic form and such dresses are worn all over the Muslim world but in Pakistan it could mean death at the hands of a religiously charged mob of fanatics.
This latest incident of fanaticism was reported in banner headlines all over the world and remained a topic for discussion in TV talk shows and in the social media. This blaze of publicity in the international media is more than enough to scare anyone thinking of investing in Pakistan or setting up any business venture in this country. Pakistan has already paid a very heavy price when the civilized world views us as irrational or a nation of religious fanatics. Racism and fanaticism are no go areas for the civilized world and people avoid travelling to countries with a racist or extremist population and religious extremism and bigotry are the main reasons preventing foreign investors from coming to Pakistan when the country is in desperate need of foreign direct investment.
Pakistan perhaps is the only country in the world that has a draconian blasphemy law prescribing the death penalty and Salman Taseer paid with his life for calling it a black law. Blasphemy in this country can be punished by death after a trial by a court of law and sentencing by a judge. In this country our champions of religion do not wait for the law to take its course and are ever ready to act as judge jury and executioner. Many people accused of blasphemy have been lynched, beaten to death or burnt alive during the course of a trial or even before the case was brought to trial. In some cases even those acquitted by a court due to a lack of evidence have been killed because the fanatics believe that just the allegation of blasphemy does not need any proof or a fair trial and the accused deserves to die by mob justice. Even the judges hearing blasphemy cases have been targeted and received death threats that makes it very difficult for them to pass a judgment in favor of the accused. In the case of the Icchra incident the vigilante crowd of fanatics had to be pacified by an apology from the accused lady As Maulana Tahir Ashrafi pointed out, the men in the crowd, rather than the woman, should have been the ones to apologize. All our previous Governments are guilty of following a policy of appeasement for the religious fanatical groups and even used these elements for the promotion of their own political agenda. Some religious groups have been nurtured and promoted as protectors of our borders and as proxy warriors against our enemies across the Eastern and Western borders.Pakistan today faces a severe danger to its very existence at the hands of religious fanatics. The policy of appeasement towards the extremist groups would embolden them to change Pakistan in the image of their own narrow minded obscurantist model. Allowing the militants to challenge authority of the state and allowing them to own public space and ban all voices of disagreement with them will result in nothing but chaos and anarchy. As of today religious fanatics are hell bent on eliminating religious minorities and sects of Islam they consider not good Muslims. Our battered civil society is facing huge assaults and is retreating in the face of assault by the extremist groups. Shias, Hindus, Christians and Ahmedis are facing a genocide from the ever increasing power and reach of the religious extremists. Official data suggests that between 2001 and 2018 “the direct and indirect cost incurred by Pakistan due to incidents of terrorism” amounted to $123.13 billion.
General Zia can be credited for the sorry state of affairs we face today, saturating both statutory law and constitutional provisions with his own narrow religious views. He turbocharged the blasphemy law, a colonial-era holdover, by amending it to include the death penalty with no evidence required. In addition, Zia altered the penal code to criminalize the basic acts of the Ahmadi faith. He amended the constitution to create the Federal Shariat Court to review legislation that may conflict with shari’a law, creating an unclear legal structure that appears to run parallel to or trump the secular system. In addition, Zia Islamicized the educational, banking, and penal systems through the Hudood ordinances. In another form of blowback, Zia’s support of jihadis against the Soviets in Afghanistan also helped to establish groups that plague Pakistan of today. Blasphemy law has fostered a climate of impunity. Vague and often abused, the law empowers an accuser to put business rivals or religious competitors on trial for their lives with a mere allegation and no penalty for lying. Advocacy organizations report that at least 14 people are on death row in Pakistan for blasphemy and 19 others serving life sentences, with many more in jail awaiting trial or appeal. This is a statistic unmatched anywhere else in the world and includes Muslims and non-Muslims. While the state has never carried out capital punishment for blasphemy, those charged have paid with their life at the hands of vigilantes.
—The writer is Professor of History, based in Islamabad.
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