Pakistan's misuse of the Blasphemy law - Mashal was proven innocent. We were proven guilty

Imad Zafar

According to a JIT report Mashal Khan was proven innocent and the charge of blasphemy on him was baseless as the Joint Investigation Team did not find even a single piece of evidence in this regard. The report further states that Mashal Khan’s murder was pre-planned and that the university management was involved in inciting the students against Mashal Khan. As per the report’s findings the police did not perform their duty responsibly and made no concrete effort to save Mashal Khan from the mob, hence the role of the police should also be investigated. The JIT report also states that there is a culture of drugs and weapons in the university campus and there is news that even the female students have been exploited on many occasions. The report further states that the university management is incapable and is being hired on the basis of political connections.

This JIT report has actually proven the innocence of Mashal Khan who was lynched on the false allegation of blasphemy. One wish is that this report can heal the wounds of the parents who lost their son. The people who killed Mashal could only have given him one chance of proving his innocence. This JIT report is actually a charge sheet against each and every single one in society who supports the killing of people in the name of blasphemy and those who do not even give a chance to the accused to prove his innocence. To all those fanatics, Mashal is proven innocent, now bring him back to life which for sure no one among you can do.

Mashal Khan’s mother told the media she was not even able to kiss her dead son’s body as each and every bone was broken into pieces. This statement from Mashal’s mother is actually a burden on our conscience, one too heavy to carry. If we cannot even bear the burden of her words how on earth will she be bear the loss of her young and innocent child? Mashal Khan’s father is a picture of patience and bravery whenever he talks about his son, it melts my heart and for sure the hearts of millions who have children. The irony it is that Mashal’s father is still pleading for justice and requesting the state to protect his remaining family as they have been continuously threatened by extremists, whereas on the other hand the people who lynched Mashal are enjoying full protocol and a luxurious lifestyle even behind bars and are in the safe custody of the law.

I am one hundred percent certain that millions of people who have somehow developed an extremist mindset will still doubt the JIT’s findings and continue to declare his lynching justified, thus making the killers heroes. One wish is that these kinds of people could understand that God does not need anyone’s protection nor is any holy personality or religion dependent on the extremists to protect them. People who kill others in the name of religion, God or holy personalities can actually be anything but human. And those who silently or openly support these brutal inhumane murders and hail the murderers as heroes are actually responsible for Mashal Khan’s death, as when they encourage this barbaric act of killing other humans, being in the name of religion, actually give the message to the millions of brainwashed people that if you want to be called a hero and want to earn fame and money overnight kill someone who is under the accusation of blasphemy.

It happened before, in the case where Salmaan Taseer was killed by his guard on the charge of blasphemy which was never proven in any court of law. His funeral was not even attended by the stalwarts of his party, contrary to that his murderer had the biggest of funerals in the country’s history. The same was the case with Shahbaz Bhatti. This ideology of killing blasphemy suspects without any proof is present in every second house of the country and completely rejects logic and debate thus resulting in the murders of innocent people. This ideology does not understand a very simple fact that to show love and respect towards a religion or holy personalities one needs to follow their teachings rather than killing others. It actually takes everything to truly follow and practice the message of religion and holy personalities and takes nothing to kill an innocent in the name of protecting religion.

Look at the picture of Mashal Khan’s father standing in front of his son’s grave and giving a salute to him, and honestly tell the parents to raise their kids to bury them at that young age or to be lynched by a mob of zombies. To bury a young child is the heaviest of all grievances and Mashal Khan’s father will carry the burden of this grief for the rest of his life. If we want to avoid this grief and pain then we need to teach our children that there is nothing good in killing others, there is no point in accusing others and killing them in the name of God. We need to tell them that a true hero is not the one who carries the gun and kills others but a hero is one who actually loves humanity and sacrifices everything to make sure his fellow human beings live in peace and harmony without the fear of being killed for a difference of opinion or belief.

If even after this incident we still somehow support or justify the killings of humans we should then expect to face this kind of incident in future as well. This time it was Mashal, someone else’s child, but there is a possibility that it can be our own child in future. After reading the findings of the JIT it seems that Mashal is standing in front of me and with a taunting smile is saying that if a society does not respect a living human being then how can it respect a religion? This society badly needs a law about respecting humanity. To the soul of Mashal Khan and living children like him, this society is actually a graveyard of the living dead who are buried in the grave of ignorance and hatred and are not aware of the death of their collective intellectual and human values.