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Special Report
A Reset to Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws?
The country’s problems go much deeper than the shelter in provided Osama bin Laden.
The president is trying to reset his earlier reset of America’s relationship with the Muslim world. But any genuine transformation requires action by both sides. Unfortunately, there is little evidence that Muslim states like Pakistan want to change their hostile behavior.
As a modern Western republic, Washington focuses on geopolitical issues while assuming all religions can reason together. Not so most Islamic states.
About the only Muslim nations that can be described as anything vaguely resembling a modern republic might be Turkey and Indonesia. Unfortunately, the Islamic world features medieval monarchies, militarized autocracies, democratic quasi-theocracies, brutal dictatorships, and a couple nations, like Egypt, in transition. Most Islamic states flavor their political repression with religious persecution.
So it is with Pakistan, perhaps America’s most dangerous “frenemy.” Islamabad’s problems are many. Perhaps most fundamental is a dangerous intolerance that pervades this self-proclaimed Islamic republic. Individual life is cheap if one is anything other than a professing Muslim.
The latest State Department report on religious liberty observed: “the number and severity of reported high-profile cases against minorities increased during the reporting period.” Not only did “organized violence against minorities” rise, but “there were instances in which law enforcement personnel abused religious minorities in custody.” The government failed to adequately respond to attacks on Christians, Ahmadis, and others.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom was even blunter in its new survey: The status of religious liberty had deteriorated “greatly.” Overall, “Pakistan continues to be responsible for systematic, ongoing, and egregious violations of freedom of religion or belief.” The state is complicit in brutal persecution: “Sectarian and religiously-motivated violence is chronic, and the government has failed to protect members of the majority faith and religious minorities. Pakistani authorities have not consistently brought perpetrators to justice or taken action against societal leaders who incite violence.”
However, the government’s failure included commission. Added State: “Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure or delay in addressing religious hostility by societal actors fostered religious intolerance, acts of violence, and intimidation against religious minorities.” Among Islamabad’s worst practices are “the blasphemy laws which provided the death penalty for defiling Islam or its prophets.”
The latter is not just an esoteric administrative matter. Noted the Commission: “Blasphemy laws are used against members of religious minority communities and dissenters within the majority Muslim community, and frequently result in imprisonment on account of religion or belief and/or vigilante violence.” These and other statutes “have created an atmosphere of violent extremism and vigilantism.”
International Christian Concern includes Pakistan among the 11 members of its “Hall of Shame.” ICC highlights the impact of the blasphemy laws, which are routinely used to silence and oppress: “Several Christians were killed in 2010 as a direct consequence of these laws and many more have been imprisoned.”
THE BLASPHEMY LAWS originally were instituted by colonial overlord Great Britain. People were prohibited from interfering with religious services and hurting religious feelings. The occupiers wanted to maintain social peace.
Unfortunately, over the years the laws were Islamacized and expanded, more for political than religious reasons. In particular, military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq used Islamic fundamentalism to his political advantage. He expanded the law to include desecration of the Koran and later added death as a penalty for blasphemy. The Federal Sharia Court then ruled that the punishment “is death and nothing else.”
Moreover, there are no procedural safeguards. The law is vague, penalizing anyone who through word or visual depiction “by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad.” No warrant or preliminary investigation is required before an arrest is made. Pastor Zulfikar from Gojra explained: “The injustice is that if two people get together and accuse one of us, we are sentenced to death. There’s no need for any proof, just one person’s testimony.”
Thankfully, “only” 40 to 50 people a year are typically charged and no one has yet been executed under the law. Still, that is small comfort. The majority of those prosecuted are Muslims, but Christians suffer disproportionately. They are much more likely to be arrested for blasphemy and, if charged, much more likely to be murdered. At least 35 have suffered deadly vigilante injustice since 1986. “Many others have endured brutal rapes and beatings, while churches, homes and businesses have been ransacked, looted and burned,” wrote author Lela Gilbert.
Mounting a defense is not easy, since lawyers and judges often are intimidated. Christian Solidarity Worldwide noted that “[t]his has an impact on the impartiality of local court rulings — convictions are likely in the first instance.” Nor is the testimony of Christians typically accorded the same weight as that of Muslims. Thankfully, more distant appeals courts often overturn convictions and the government usually commutes any death sentences.
However, those charged can spend many years in jail awaiting trial. There they are vulnerable to retaliation. Earlier this year Qamar David, a Pakistan Christian sentenced to life imprisonment and jailed since 2002. mysteriously died in a Karachi jail. The government claimed it was a natural death; his family said David had no known health problems. Like so many other cases, his prosecution arose from business disputes.
About the Author
Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute. A former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan, he is the author and editor of several books, including The Politics of Plunder: Misgovernment in Washington (Transaction).
Letter to the Editor View all comments (29) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 5.23.11 @ 6:55AM
Canada is moving in this direction too. In the last few days it has come to our attention that a Punk Band called Living with Lions has been given $13,248 by the Government of Canada to produce an album called *Holy S---* [spelled out on the album cover) and subtitled *The Poo Testament*. The liner notes and photos depict Jesus Christ as as a turd, and they also thank the Government of Canada for the cash. The album is stamped with the logo of the Government of Canada, which has a department to fund such trash with tax dollars.
Imagine what would happen if this band had so depicted Mohammed and the Koran.
If you want to know more about this, you can Google it; however, nobody seems interested in the fact that just above the worlds longest undefended border, the same things are happening as you criticize in the worst-run Tribes With Flags *over there*.
Occam's Tool| 5.23.11 @ 7:49PM
I live within 80 miles or so of the border; somehow, I no longer really wish to visit.
John Navratil| 5.23.11 @ 9:44AM
The Koran is, to the believer, the inalterable word of Allah dictated to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel; there can be no enlightenment which (ask a Christian) brings problems of its own.
The Christian acknowledges a secular world. The Muslim does not.
To be a Muslim, one must be a good Muslim. Apostates or blasphemers are killed. No point in sticking one's head up for any "infidel".
The be a good Muslim, one submits totally to Allah. Everything is done according to the will of Allah. This creates a profound fatalism among the adherents. If you want practical proof, try driving in Arabia and observe the risks taken because anything which results is the will of Allah.
If you attempt to thwart the actions of a good Muslim, you are not only acting against the will of the person, but also the will of Allah which makes you an infidel - you die.
If you, a Muslim, decide that this is not for you, you die.
You can't win, you can't get even and you can't get out of the game.
There will never by peace. Prepare for it.
PJ| 5.23.11 @ 10:18AM
I highly recommend everyone to watch the movie, The Stoning of Soyara M. Watch this true story not so much for the stoning which is very gruesome, but for the events leading up to it. It is so easy for individuals to take advantage of Sharia Laws for personal gain, for vendetta, or for misguided moral outrage.
Until the imams moderate themselves, there is nothing impartial in Sharia Law, thus a horrible court system to impose on anyone of goodwill.
Kelly Staples| 5.23.11 @ 10:25AM
Meanwhile, a little closer to home - here's a shout-out to the faithful for having survived the rapture. Whew. . . that was close! Better luck next time.
Osamas Pajamas| 5.23.11 @ 12:04PM
I'm an atheist and I thought this end-of-the-world jazz was comical in a sad way. But to imply equivalence of the rapturists with the outright insanity of Islam is to elevate a vastly worse evil over a dramatically lesser evil.
Cromulent| 5.23.11 @ 12:30PM
Thanks much OP. Few atheists are willing to say this.
Osamas Pajamas| 5.23.11 @ 12:00PM
Pakistan is a corrupt dictatorship which enshrines evil and aims to eradicate good. Doubtless many in the Pak government knew that Bin Laden was safely on their soil. Probably they were getting some money from OBL and al Qaeda as well as billions from American taxpayers --- while cursing us and laughing up their sleeves at us. Now we have a situation in which these poisonous bxstxrds have nukes --- and the Chinese fascist dictatorship is sending aircraft and other weaponry to Pakistan --- and telling the USA to "respect Pakistan's sovereignty" --- while the Russians and Iranians are arming Venezuelan commie dictator Hugo Chavez with long-range missiles capable of hitting targets all across the southern USA. The global imperialists now strike back at the world's greatest "anti-imperialist" power in all of human history --- the USA.
Cromulent| 5.23.11 @ 12:31PM
This story just illustrates the wages of Islam.
Dave Williams| 5.23.11 @ 1:40PM
Hey, O.P., good to know that I'm not the only atheist reader on this site!
Once again, we see some more of the misery that religion has brought into the world. A plague on BOTH your houses, and you can throw in fundamentalist Jewry and Hinduism as well. All because some (most?) people can't take the world in all its glory AS IT IS, without having to make up imaginary friends. It would be frickin' hilarious if the real-world consequences weren't so serious, and painful....
Occam's Tool| 5.23.11 @ 7:56PM
There's only one itsby bitsy problem, Dave...name one single secular state (really secular, like, say, the UK) which has a birthrate above replacement. Or even actually replacement, other than New Zealand (which I believe is at 2.09, so not quite there). Islam is running about 4 kids per woman in the most religious areas.
I'll sit here and read Tolstoy and Gibbon while you do so.
I think we should realize that there are nice atheists, evil ones (Stalin and Hitler come to mind) evil religious folk (Torquemada) nice religious folk (JPII), and that the major problem we face right now is that there is an absence of whatever it is that provides fighting spirit in the West.
We will hang together, or we certainly shall be hung seperately.
I practice medicine. I have seen enough miracles that I do not doubt G-d. I don't care that you are an atheist. I do care that you look at the world through a monochrome.
Occam's Tool| 5.23.11 @ 7:58PM
In addition, Dave, Maimonides hardly deserves your opprobium.
cicero| 5.23.11 @ 1:54PM
Perhaps it is time to let the Chinese take over the care and feeding of the Paks. Last time I looked, they are not nearly as sympathetic to religious sensitivities as we in the U.S. As far as their nuclear capabilities go, I don't see the Chinese encouraging attacks on their major trading party, either.
This nonsense has been going on for 1300 years. The Brits tried to make nice by splitting the Muslim population from the rest of India, and it hasn't worked very well. Prior to that, the Muslims in Afghanistan were a constant source of war and conflict with their neighbors - see the Northwest Frontier stories from the days of the Raj.
Kipling makes interesting reading even now. The only thing that has changed is the weapons.
John Navratil| 5.23.11 @ 2:22PM
cicero,
You are, no doubt, aware that the Pakistani's have asked the Chinese to build a naval port for them with facilities for the Chinese Navy.
You might also note that the Brits did not partition the countries so much as they acquiesced to it. They were opposed but Nehru could not be dissuaded. It is arguable that a more definitely defined border in 1947 may have prevented the India/Pakistani border wars.
John Greene| 5.23.11 @ 1:57PM
"We Muslims are the victims." He told the BBC that Christians "provoked the Muslims here."
This is the original, and ongoing "defensive" posture of Muslims when they wish to kill, torture, maim, rape, steal from, or abuse kafirs (non-Muslims).
Islam is a political system that programs human beings into lives of sociopathic behavior. Isn't it time that Western Civilization SHUNS IslamoFascists in all their inglorious despicable moral turpitude.
shipley130| 5.23.11 @ 2:23PM
I wonder if Pakistan is on the verge of a failed state. The penetration of a Pakistani naval base by terrorists is not a good sign. Where are those Pakistani nukes located, exactly?
cicero| 5.23.11 @ 3:10PM
John N. and Shipley.
Last time I looked, China was not considered a terrorist state. They may not be a liberal democracy, but they don't appear to endorse the politics of suicide. In addition, China having a friendly port on the Indian Ocean hardly poses a systemic threat to the U.S. They might even help.
Redrawing the borders of the old Raj would hardly make any significant diference as far as the stability, and neighborliness of the Muslim populations around the near andd far east. It is like offering a piece of your steak to the tiger.
John Navratil| 5.23.11 @ 10:24PM
cicero,
I did not suggest that China was a terrorist state, although the political prisoners held by here might well hold that view.
Despite working with many Chinese immigrants whom I respect, I cannot help but notice their collectivist mentality. China does not share our interests and appears to be acting as a hegemon (Tibet?!?). I do not expect China's interests in Pakistan extend to more than a check on India and an Indian Ocean port. You might consider that it does not pose a threat, but naval power is projected through its control of the oceans. The U.S. and Britain before it worked to keep the oceans free for international use. China's policies do no seem to match.
I don't understand your point in redrawing the borders of the old Raj.
Redstateboy| 5.23.11 @ 4:25PM
I betcha I speak for a lot of Americans who say: F' Pakistan! F' Islam! F' giving em' a dime more of our hard earned Tax dollars and while we're at it..? F' Hussein Obama!
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BD57| 5.23.11 @ 9:40PM
We treat the Islamic world like children - there are no consequences for their words and/or actions hostile to the United States. In fact, we reward them - we seem to believe "we're the problem."
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"Understand folks, we're fighting in
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resources ---for RED China..."
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(heroic coverage as it happens online)
------------------------------------ANY QUESTIONS?
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