Pakistan: Blasphemy insanity

EDITORIAL :DAILY TIMES

The issue of the blasphemy law has reached ridiculous proportions. The latest victim of the misuse of this law is the vulnerable Christian community. The heinous crime perpetrated by a fanatical mob of burning down 200 Christian homes in Badami Bagh recently has raised many important questions of just where we have reached not just as a society but as a nation of ‘believers’. A raving mob of some 3,000 ‘faithful’ premeditated roughhousing a so-called blasphemy accused and ended up burning down the lives and assets of hundreds of Christian families caught up in the frenzy of a mob mentality. The Christians who came out onto the streets to protest this crime have been met with threats by clerics and police officials. These are not the actions of a civilised, harmonious religion and its people. In 2009, the Gojra riots, where eight Christians were burned alive and 60 Christian homes were burnt to ashes by a mob, indicated the sick direction in which this country was heading. Not a single culprit was apprehended for the Gojra massacre and, so far, the same can be seen for the Joseph Colony incident. When the extremists see that fanatics get away with murder, what is there to stop anyone else from repeating the crime? What is more, most of these ‘blasphemy’ cases are lodged against minorities and that too for reasons that do not stand up to scrutiny. It has been reported that the Joseph Colony incident occurred after a drunken row between two men, one of them the accused, who is a Christian. The accuser has fled whilst the accused languishes in police custody. Blasphemy charges are used as a disguise for vested interests, often to do with land grabbing. This is what our faith has been reduced to by the ‘pious’ — a cover for hidden agendas. The Rimsha Masih case was a proven case of land grabbing by a greedy neighbourhood cleric. When such incidents take place, it is the job of the people, the media and the government to take stock and demand accountability. It is also the job of this country’s legal system to haul up those who actually blasphemise by dragging God’s name in the mud. In another example of how moronic our psyche has become, reports from Shibli Town, Lahore tell of how an imam of a local mosque has accused a young Christian boy of committing blasphemy by allegedly urinating in the ablution area of the mosque, resulting in the Christians of the area feeling threatened. Is this serious? Does it not make one want to shake their head and cry for the state of this nation? It is time to do something about the blasphemy laws so that minorities are, at least, offered some protection by making sure that these foolish accusations cannot be flung about so conveniently. If this is not done, it is only a matter of time before everyone becomes fair game.