Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan Heighten Political Unrest and Censorship in Pakistan
Pakistani Women protesting the imprisonment of a Christian Woman, Asia Bibi, on Blasphemy Charges. K.M Chaudary/AP News.
This past Thursday, September 19th, in Pakistan two individuals were killed over accusations of Blasphemy. The first, Dr. Kanbhar, was shot dead by police after a mob moved to attack him. The second, a man Shah Nawaz, was an employee at a public hospital but his employment was terminated last Tuesday after the hospital received news that he had posted images desecrating the prophet. Shah Nawaz denied the link to his Facebook, but soon after, to avoid arrest, he fled where police later shot him in an altercation. Both cases mark just the tip of the iceberg, as Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have led to numerous arrests and mob violence in the past year. The crime of Blasphemy originates from colonial-era law which sought to separate and avoid antagonism between Muslims and Hindus by criminalizing offensive speech or acts relating to religion.
These laws were reinforced under the US-backed military dictatorship of Zia-Ul-Haq, who oversaw the period of ‘Islamization’ of Pakistan. Today the law sits as a cornerstone of Pakistani social life, criminalizing all offensive material or actions directed at Islam or the prophet with the sentence of death for all adults found guilty. Critics argue that since the inception of the state, the charge of Blasphemy is almost always leveled against the country's minorities, especially Christians, Ahmadis, and Shias. Since 1987, 2000 people have been accused of Blasphemy, many met with mob violence, including this past March when a 22-year-old man was sentenced to death for sharing Blasphemous content over WhatsApp.
The effects of Blasphemy laws reach all Pakistanis, but particularly minorities. Fareed Khan/AP News
This all comes on the heels of the Pakistani Taliban increasingly playing a larger role in politics. With the return of the Afghan Taliban took power, Taliban fighters in Pakistan received more material and ideological support from Kabul as well as newfound political legitimacy. A recent UN report illustrates that “The Taliban do not conceive of TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Movement of the Taliban-Pakistan) as a terrorist group: the bonds are close, and the debt owed to TTP is significant.” With this support, a new wave of radical schools, weapons, drug trafficking, has opened and the Pakistani Taliban is poised to be an even larger political actor than before.
The Pakistani Taliban have replaced local authorities in many districts, pressuring the state directly to enforce Blasphemy laws. In one neighborhood where local officials are now highly censored by the Pakistani Taliban, a resident noted that "they (the Pakistani-Taliban) want to limit our lives here the same way the Afghan Taliban did in their country.” In districts where freedom of movement is less restricted, the level of safety for locals is even more alarming as the Pakistani-Taliban has begun targeting local security forces in a bid to take over the state apparatus and enforce laws as they see fit. In such localities, Blasphemy laws are likely to become more entrenched and their application more widespread.
Experts like Dr. Badry from the University of Freiburg argue that the fate of such laws is likely to be settled on the future strength of the Pakistani-Taliban and the openness of the public sphere. Over the last twenty years the group, or those who claim affiliation with it, have targeted politicians, and activists, making protests against or even public critique of the law a grave risk. In the past decade, senior politicians, lawyers for defendants, and those protesting against such violence themselves have been murdered. The threat of silence from the Pakistani Taliban is even directed at those outside the debate on blasphemy, such as renowned singers and peace activists. With present-day intimidation and violence, the swaths of Pakistani society critical of Blasphemy laws, or open to a discussion on them, are likely to be silenced.