Victims of Pakistans blasphemy vigilantism
Over the last
decades, simply accusing someone of blasphemy has proved enough to trigger a vigilante death sentence. Obviously, Pakistan has not got to this situation overnight
BEENA SARWAR
In todays age of instant news and social media, reports of university student Mohammad Mashal Khans death on the morning of April 13 would not have been broken gently to his family.
Nor will they be spared the graphic videos and photos of their sons horrific death at the public Wali Khan University in Mardan, the second largest city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, an hours drive from Mashals home in neighbouring Swabi district.
The mob dragged Mashal, a journalism student, out of his hostel room. They stripped, beat and clubbed him, then shot him. Videos circulating online show young men, some carrying backpacks, kicking and throwing stones at his near-naked, bloodied, lifeless body.
They also attacked another mass communications student, Abdullah, who had hidden in the chairmans washroom. The mob smashed the office and beat the boy even as he recited verses from the Holy Quran to prove his faith. Police who reached the scene managed to rescue him and get him to a nearby hospital.
After the police rescued Abdullah, the mob hunted down Mashal.
Familiar pattern
Rumours had started circulating on the morning of April 13 about Mashals alleged gustakhi literally disrespect, but in the context of Pakistan, blasphemy. Concerned, some of his teachers had driven him away from campus to another location, but Mashal returned to his hostel, saying, I have done nothing wrong, why should I hide? When the mob came for him, he stood no chance. The police too said they were helpless. Hopelessly outnumbered and inadequately trained, the best they could do for Mashal was to prevent the mob from burning his battered body, which they took away even as dozens of charged young men demanded it back.
This violence for which there is no justification morally, legally or religiously falls into a familiar pattern. It starts with rumours that the person has committed some kind of blasphemy. A mob is gathered and incited to attack the accused. While there have been several such instances in the past, this is the first time that students at a university campus have succumbed to the poison in the body politic that Pakistan has been witnessing for some time. In this case, rumours had begun circulating that Mashal and his friend Abdullah were promoting the Ahmadi faith on Facebook.
Even if this was the case for which there is no evidence it is not a crime punishable by death in Pakistan. It is, however, a criminal offence to commit violence against anyone, regardless of the crime or transgression they are accused of. Over the last decades, simply accusing someone of blasphemy has proved enough to trigger a vigilante death sentence. Obviously, Pakistan has not got to this situation overnight. A critical point in this path was the 1974 constitutional amendment that officially declared the Ahmadi community to be non-Muslim. Ten years later, General Zia ul-Haqs military dictatorship made it a criminal offence for Ahmadis to practice or propagate their faith as Muslims. He further added sections to the British colonial-era Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code, expanding on the earlier injury to religious sentiment offence with its milder sentence.
These amendments, which form what are termed as Pakistans blasphemy laws, include 295-C, which made any insult to Prophet Mohammad punishable by life imprisonment or death. In 1992, the option of life imprisonment lapsed and death became the only option for 295-C convictions. Pakistans first blasphemy murder took place shortly afterwards at the hands of a young activist of the Anjuman-e-Sipah-e-Sahaba (later changed to Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan or SSP, which has been banned for some years now). The victim was a Christian poet and schoolteacher named Naimat Ahmar in Faisalabad (formerly Lyallpur), stabbed outside the education office.
The pattern that emerged with Ahmars murder 25 years ago still prevails. Rumours are started about an alleged gustakhi. The accusers dont even need to spell out what the gustakhi was.
Organised attacks
Since then, the SSP and its off-shoots have meticulously followed up any whiff of controversy around such issues, with an alliance of hundreds of lawyers on hand to follow up the cases.
While the state has yet to execute anyone convicted under 295-C most cases are dismissed on appeal more than 60 persons have been murdered, including inside prisons, after being accused of blasphemy or even simply disrespect to Islam.
The Wire
