Khaled Ahmed: Pakistan’s blasphemy law is used to target the Christian community with impunity

By Dilip -

Before India’s “love jihad”, Pakistan found its way to getting rid of its Christians. Blasphemy was pinned on them with the confidence that no judge would let them off the hook, with pious crowds demanding death outside his court. Pakistan’s most humiliating moment is reached every time someone is accused of blasphemy and sentenced to death. Proof is not needed; the court is just too scared to let the accused go, as happened in the case of Junaid Hafeez, a “visiting” faculty member at the English department of Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, who was sentenced to death by a court in Multan in 2019 after being arrested in 2013. He was a Fulbright scholar with a Master’s from Jackson State University. It is easy to convict people for blasphemy because the law says an insult to the Prophet PBUH can take place even by innuendo.

Asia Bibi’s plight retrains the spotlight on Pakistan’s Blasphemy Law

Then, there are the clerics who can scare any judge if they think he is getting soft because of lack of evidence. One such “blasphemy” priest, Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi, died a natural death recently after getting many innocent people in trouble over “rumours” of blasphemy. His fiery sermons caused police-guard Mumtaz Qadri to pump 27 bullets into Governor of Punjab Salmaan Taseer in 2011 for supporting a Christian woman accused of blasphemy….

https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/pakistan-blasphemy-laws-christians-7110471/

Posts on Asia Bibi

Pakistani professor Junaid Hafeez gets death sentence in blasphemy case

HAMNA ZUBAIR - Qandeel Baloch is dead because we hate women who don't conform / When it comes to honour killing, India is neck and neck with Pakistan

Christophe Jaffrelot: On ‘love jihad’, BJP picks up baton from vigilante groups. Police, judicial apparatus have aided this move

Lucknow: families give consent but cops stop interfaith wedding // UP villagers allege the police forced the so-called 'love jehad' arrest

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)

Giulio Regeni murder: Egypt rejects naming of its agents as suspects

Book Review: 'Secrecy World' by Jake Bernstein

Supreme Court lays emphasis on protecting personal liberty

Tavleen Singh on government ministers suddenly defending press freedom / Arfa Khanum Sherwani: I’m a Journalist, That’s Why I Don’t Stand With Arnab Goswami

Avay Shukla: Acts Of God And Follies Of Man

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Colin Gonsalves: Refusal of bail to Sudha Bharadwaj is based on inadmissible evidence

Pratap Bhanu Mehta: The loneliness of Varavara Rao, Anand Teltumbde, Sudha Bharadwaj tells a disquieting tale

Samjhauta Express blast case verdict: ‘Who will answer for death of my five children?’

Jailed and Harassed Former IGP Darapuri, 76, Shares His Ordeal

Prem Shankar Jha: The Shadow of Haren Pandya’s Case Lies Long Over Justice Arun Mishra

Nikhila Henry - Ex CJI Gogoi's RS Nomination Calls All His Judgments Into Question, Says Legal Expert

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