IT is easy enough to recognise the good intentions, to say nothing of frustration in the face of growing religious intolerance, that underpinned the remarks made by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Tuesday. He pointed out that the desecration of places of worship of any faith attracted attention by the law under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code, also referred to as the blasphemy laws. The hearing related to a case that was particularly harrowing: the bombing of a Peshawar church in September last year that left more than 80 worshippers dead and scores of others scarred for life. The country’s Christian community is not alone in the violence it faces. In just the past two months, Sindh has seen the desecration of six Hindu places of worship. The court’s observation that it empathised with the agonies of the country’s minorities must be shared by everyone who feels even a modicum of responsibility towards protecting the vulnerable. If blasphemy, actionable under Section 295, is a charge that is often misused to persecute individuals — in some cases, entire communities — who can argue that all religions are not equally deserving of being recognised as being inviolable in the eyes of the law? So far, whenever invoked, these laws have virtually exclusively been used in efforts to protect the faith of the country’s majority.
Yet the preceding details are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to intolerance of various hues in Pakistan. We would be hard-pressed, in fact, to identify any community, faith-based or defined by other parameters, that has not found itself under attack at one point or the other in recent years as the spectre of violent extremism grows. For the myriad groups and individuals that peddle terror, justification can be found to make any person, any occasion, any place a target. This is evidenced by the fact that even places of worship belonging to various denominations within Islam, have been turned contentious and deemed worthy of being attacked. In addition to churches, temples and mosques, we have seen funeral processions and emergency wards in hospitals being targeted as the extremists strive to etch the divisions ever deeper. And, sad to say, the extremists are not just the ones wielding guns and bombs; an intolerance which condones violence is now a characteristic of society in general.
The best way out, then, is perhaps not to expand the use of a law that is considered problematic and in need of revision, but to make efforts to reform Pakistan into a place where the rule of law holds sway. We do not need to invoke Section 295 to protect the lives, properties and holy places of citizens, since there are several laws that already apply. What we need to do is to start applying them.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Pakistan: Beleaguered minorities
IT is easy enough to recognise the good intentions, to say nothing of frustration in the face of growing religious intolerance, that underpinned the remarks made by Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani on Tuesday. He pointed out that the desecration of places of worship of any faith attracted attention by the law under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code, also referred to as the blasphemy laws. The hearing related to a case that was particularly harrowing: the bombing of a Peshawar church in September last year that left more than 80 worshippers dead and scores of others scarred for life. The country’s Christian community is not alone in the violence it faces. In just the past two months, Sindh has seen the desecration of six Hindu places of worship. The court’s observation that it empathised with the agonies of the country’s minorities must be shared by everyone who feels even a modicum of responsibility towards protecting the vulnerable. If blasphemy, actionable under Section 295, is a charge that is often misused to persecute individuals — in some cases, entire communities — who can argue that all religions are not equally deserving of being recognised as being inviolable in the eyes of the law? So far, whenever invoked, these laws have virtually exclusively been used in efforts to protect the faith of the country’s majority.
Yet the preceding details are but the tip of the iceberg when it comes to intolerance of various hues in Pakistan. We would be hard-pressed, in fact, to identify any community, faith-based or defined by other parameters, that has not found itself under attack at one point or the other in recent years as the spectre of violent extremism grows. For the myriad groups and individuals that peddle terror, justification can be found to make any person, any occasion, any place a target. This is evidenced by the fact that even places of worship belonging to various denominations within Islam, have been turned contentious and deemed worthy of being attacked. In addition to churches, temples and mosques, we have seen funeral processions and emergency wards in hospitals being targeted as the extremists strive to etch the divisions ever deeper. And, sad to say, the extremists are not just the ones wielding guns and bombs; an intolerance which condones violence is now a characteristic of society in general.
The best way out, then, is perhaps not to expand the use of a law that is considered problematic and in need of revision, but to make efforts to reform Pakistan into a place where the rule of law holds sway. We do not need to invoke Section 295 to protect the lives, properties and holy places of citizens, since there are several laws that already apply. What we need to do is to start applying them.
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