Waqqas Mir
Muhammad Asghar is the latest victim of the Pakistani vigilantism motivated by religion. He was shot by a policeman. Rewind a few days and witness something similar in Karachi: a liberal Islamic scholar shot to death after he had been accused of blasphemy by his colleagues.
You should all turn to the person next to you in the street, in your neighborhood, in your workplaces to thank her that he has not accused you of blasphemy — yet.
Whatever you do in this country, no matter how powerful you may be, there is one basic and cold fact that you cannot escape: all someone needs to do to end your life, as you know it, is to accuse you of blasphemy. From the moment you are accused of this offence, regardless of whether you are actually charged, the clock starts ticking. You live on borrowed time. Each day that you live is because the ‘pure’ ones are feeling magnanimous.
Once a person is accused, he can try anything — it will not work. We can beg the accuser for mercy, plead insanity, plead innocence, and explain the context of what was said or heard. None of that matters. All that matters is this: the allegation is all the proof someone needs to kill you. The state is as helpless as you.
More and more people seem to have decided that courts are a mere nuisance and the only real evidence of love and respect for any religious figure is to take matters of life and death in your own hands — more importantly, the only real evidence of love is to take someone’s life. Then there are those who go a step further and kill themselves too.
Bigotry and violence create their own agency. This results in a situation where the state and its so-called monopoly over violence is not even half the story. Pakistan is a classic case. The debate about the ‘law of blasphemy’ largely misses the point. The role of the state is often similar to yours and mine: we are helpless on-lookers.
Organising seminars or using donor money to talk about the law of blasphemy in a free speech context when it comes to Pakistan is not going to get us anywhere. You don’t have to like this fact. You just have to live with it. It is not only naïve, it is also irresponsible. You cannot expect any politician to even discuss tweaking the law on anything related to religion and stay alive. There is a space that needs to be created first.
The problem is simple: most people are missing the point.
The problem is also not the law on the books. Every state has a legitimate interest in prohibiting or punishing, partially or wholly, categories of speech that it deems undesirable. This includes pornography, defamation, incitement to violence, ‘fighting words’ etc. The problem is the state and mindset of the citizens who think they are bound to ignore the law of the land and take it into their own hands.
Let me explain how.
A broken justice system works both ways here. The accuser feels that the justice system is broken, so the person accused of blasphemy will be able to get away. The accused, on the other hand, feels that the system is hopeless at every level, ranging from investigation to even physical protection of the accused. The state does not know how to prosecute or exonerate someone without endangering lives. The judges hearing these cases begin fearing for their lives if someone is not pronounced guilty. The lawyers representing the accused, if any lawyers come forward that is, live on borrowed time too. But the judicial verdict or outcome is not the one that matters.
A result, quite logical if you follow how systems work, is that a new power broker steps in to fill the void left by the state. That power broker is currently the violent mindset — the champions of vigilante violence; something the state is doing nothing to change. And it cannot change it — for it lacks capacity and even the intestinal fortitude.
None of this is meant to absolve those practicing vigilante justice. Those who attack or kill people in the name of avenging blasphemy challenge the authority of the state. They must be dealt with harshly. However, even if you are someone who believes that the law is the problem and you somehow pretend that the law does not exist, no problem will be solved. Vigilante violence will still take place.
The state has not even entered the arena where it really matters: conducting a discourse. And it will not do this in my lifetime at least.
The reason is that a state will only act against violence that threatens it. Right now the state thinks this violence will not turn towards the state. And even if it does, it can be controlled. “So what? The state could argue. “A few people die each year in vigilante violence because of blasphemy related charges. We try to protect them, we fail. But what do you want us to do? Say or do something which brings out all the hornets?”
But the state is wrong. This is Pakistan, a Muslim majority state where religion is your license to do everything, and more importantly, a cover for everything. It gives people the power to slit throats and to pronounce minority sects as those worthy of nothing but death.
One day, long after we are gone, historians will analyse how Pakistan shot herself in the foot — and let herself bleed to the brink of death. But that day is not now. In today’s Pakistan, be grateful for the life that you have and do everything you can, in your own little way, to challenge the mindset that threatens each one of us.
In one way, it is only a matter of time so why not do all that we can?
Muhammad Asghar is the latest victim of the Pakistani vigilantism motivated by religion. He was shot by a policeman. Rewind a few days and witness something similar in Karachi: a liberal Islamic scholar shot to death after he had been accused of blasphemy by his colleagues.
You should all turn to the person next to you in the street, in your neighborhood, in your workplaces to thank her that he has not accused you of blasphemy — yet.
Whatever you do in this country, no matter how powerful you may be, there is one basic and cold fact that you cannot escape: all someone needs to do to end your life, as you know it, is to accuse you of blasphemy. From the moment you are accused of this offence, regardless of whether you are actually charged, the clock starts ticking. You live on borrowed time. Each day that you live is because the ‘pure’ ones are feeling magnanimous.
Once a person is accused, he can try anything — it will not work. We can beg the accuser for mercy, plead insanity, plead innocence, and explain the context of what was said or heard. None of that matters. All that matters is this: the allegation is all the proof someone needs to kill you. The state is as helpless as you.
More and more people seem to have decided that courts are a mere nuisance and the only real evidence of love and respect for any religious figure is to take matters of life and death in your own hands — more importantly, the only real evidence of love is to take someone’s life. Then there are those who go a step further and kill themselves too.
Bigotry and violence create their own agency. This results in a situation where the state and its so-called monopoly over violence is not even half the story. Pakistan is a classic case. The debate about the ‘law of blasphemy’ largely misses the point. The role of the state is often similar to yours and mine: we are helpless on-lookers.
Organising seminars or using donor money to talk about the law of blasphemy in a free speech context when it comes to Pakistan is not going to get us anywhere. You don’t have to like this fact. You just have to live with it. It is not only naïve, it is also irresponsible. You cannot expect any politician to even discuss tweaking the law on anything related to religion and stay alive. There is a space that needs to be created first.
The problem is simple: most people are missing the point.
The problem is also not the law on the books. Every state has a legitimate interest in prohibiting or punishing, partially or wholly, categories of speech that it deems undesirable. This includes pornography, defamation, incitement to violence, ‘fighting words’ etc. The problem is the state and mindset of the citizens who think they are bound to ignore the law of the land and take it into their own hands.
Let me explain how.
A broken justice system works both ways here. The accuser feels that the justice system is broken, so the person accused of blasphemy will be able to get away. The accused, on the other hand, feels that the system is hopeless at every level, ranging from investigation to even physical protection of the accused. The state does not know how to prosecute or exonerate someone without endangering lives. The judges hearing these cases begin fearing for their lives if someone is not pronounced guilty. The lawyers representing the accused, if any lawyers come forward that is, live on borrowed time too. But the judicial verdict or outcome is not the one that matters.
A result, quite logical if you follow how systems work, is that a new power broker steps in to fill the void left by the state. That power broker is currently the violent mindset — the champions of vigilante violence; something the state is doing nothing to change. And it cannot change it — for it lacks capacity and even the intestinal fortitude.
None of this is meant to absolve those practicing vigilante justice. Those who attack or kill people in the name of avenging blasphemy challenge the authority of the state. They must be dealt with harshly. However, even if you are someone who believes that the law is the problem and you somehow pretend that the law does not exist, no problem will be solved. Vigilante violence will still take place.
The state has not even entered the arena where it really matters: conducting a discourse. And it will not do this in my lifetime at least.
The reason is that a state will only act against violence that threatens it. Right now the state thinks this violence will not turn towards the state. And even if it does, it can be controlled. “So what? The state could argue. “A few people die each year in vigilante violence because of blasphemy related charges. We try to protect them, we fail. But what do you want us to do? Say or do something which brings out all the hornets?”
But the state is wrong. This is Pakistan, a Muslim majority state where religion is your license to do everything, and more importantly, a cover for everything. It gives people the power to slit throats and to pronounce minority sects as those worthy of nothing but death.
One day, long after we are gone, historians will analyse how Pakistan shot herself in the foot — and let herself bleed to the brink of death. But that day is not now. In today’s Pakistan, be grateful for the life that you have and do everything you can, in your own little way, to challenge the mindset that threatens each one of us.
In one way, it is only a matter of time so why not do all that we can?
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