Even If Acquitted, Pakistani Blasphemy Suspect Is In Mortal Danger
VoH News Monitor
By Majeed Babar, Charles Recknagel
December,01: A 45-year-old Catholic mother of two has been sentenced to death in Pakistan for blasphemy. But the real danger Aasia Bibi faces may not come from her court case. That is because, to date, although some have been sentenced to death, no one has ever been executed in
Pakistan for blasphemy.
Instead, the danger is that she will be killed if she is freed. And for that there are ample precedents. In July, two Christian brothers accused of writing a blasphemous pamphlet critical of the Prophet Muhammad were shot dead within the premises of a court in Punjab. One of the brothers was a pastor. That happened as they exited a court hearing in Faisalabad city, where hundreds of protesters had demanded they be sentenced to death. Those same crowds of protestors have gathered in Bibi's case like ominous storm clouds hovering over the proceedings.
Angry DemonstrationsLast week, an Islamic party Jamat-e-Islami held a demonstration outside
a mosque in Karachi after Friday prayers. The protesters demanded that Bibi be hanged as sentenced.
Other groups have held other demonstrations, including the banned charity Jamaat-ud-Dawa, which the United Nations has blacklisted as a terrorist organization. It demonstrated in the streets of Lahore, where Punjab's high court must confirm Bibi's November 8 death sentence before it can be carried out.
The daughter and wife of the governor of Punjab Province speak to Aasia Bibi (right), who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy. Radio Liberty Photo
The demonstrations have the support of many Islamic clerics, who see blasphemy as attacking the very heart of Pakistan's Muslim identity. As one Islamic scholar, Dr. Qasim Mahmood told RFE/'RL's Radio Mashaal: "The most sacred name is that of Allah and after that it is Muhammad, peace be upon him, and if somebody talks low about them, the Islamic clerics in Pakistan already describe the details of the punishment for those who commit blasphemy, and now it's the law of the land in Pakistan that they have to be awarded the death sentence."
Islamic political parties and militant groups have seized upon the blasphemy case to cast themselves yet again as defenders of religion and show their street power. But the blame for the intensity of the issue lies with the blasphemy laws themselves and the willingness of lower courts to enforce them mercilessly. The case of Bibi, the first woman ever to be convicted under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, provides a textbook example. In June 2009, a group of her co-workers accused Bibi of blaspheming Islam as the group worked in the fields around her home village in Nankana district, about 70 kilometers from Lahore. The trouble began on a searing hot day as she harvested the berry-sized fruit Grewia Asiatica, also known as falsa, which is used throughout the region as a flavor for juices and sorbets. She had forgotten to bring her own water pitcher so she drank a glass of water from a pitcher belonging to her female Muslim co-workers -- an act which some considered defiling. Bibi could not pacify her Muslim co-workers despite saying sorry. The co-workers asked her to convert to Islam and she refused and left the scene with tears rolling down her cheeks.Taking his cue from three of the Muslim women, a prayer leader of a local mosque, Qari Muhammad Salam, filed a case against Bibi in the
district court. From there the accusations against her mounted. According to the lower court's verdict, obtained by RFE/RL, witnesses against her during the proceedings stated she had said the Koran is fake and "your prophet remained in bed for one month before his death because he had insects in his mouth and ears."
She also allegedly said the Prophet Muhammad had married his wife, Khadija, who was wealthy, "just for money" and after stealing from her kicked her out of the house.Judge Naveed Iqbal, in sentencing her to death, "totally ruled out" anychance that Bibi was falsely implicated and said there were "no mitigating circumstances." Speaking about why the judge passed a deathsentence, Secretary-General of the Human Rights Commission of PakistanI.A. Rehman told Mashaal Radio: "In Pakistan, mullahs are stronger thenthe courts, and due to fear the lower courts can't let anybody go free because the lower courts always feel under threat and pressure from the mullahs."
Now, as the case has gone to the provincial high court in Lahore, it presents the Pakistan government with a major dilemma. Human rights groups in Pakistan and abroad are incensed by the case and hard-liners' implicit threats to carry out the execution themselves if necessary.
Christians are a minority in Pakistan Asim Malik, spokesman for Aurat Foundation, a women's-rights watchdog in Pakistan which is closely watching the case, says Bibi has alreadyhad to suffer harsh conditions because of the danger from hard-liners. "For the past year, Aasia Bibi, who is 45 years old, has been kept in isolation by the police because of the fear that somebody will end herlife," Malik said.
The blasphemy law also encourage a sense of majority power, even mob rule, over religious minorities that the Pakistani state cannot assure the safety of those accused of blasphemy even if they are acquitted. That is particularly true in Punjab, which is home to most of Pakistan's militant groups and where most of the attacks on Christians have taken place.- Radio Liberty
Zardari worried military may take him out: WikiLeaks
Monitoring Desk
WASHINGTON, Dec.1: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari told US Vice
President Joe Biden that he was worried the powerful military in his
country might 'take me out,' according to US diplomatic cables
published in US and British newspapers on Tuesday.
Zardari's comments reflect the influential role the Pakistani military
holds in a country with a long history of coup d'etats, and further
raises questions about the effectiveness of civilian rule. It was
unclear whether Zardari's comments suggested he could be killed or
merely forced out of office.
The US cables from the embassy in Islamabad were part of a massive
cache of internal American diplomatic correspondence acquired by
WikiLeaks and distributed to a handful of news organizations, including
Indian, British, German and US newspapers and in France and Spain too.
More than 250,000 documents were being released this week despite the
strong objections of the US government, which considers them stolen and
says their public release undermines international diplomacy.
The cables underscore the difficult relationship between the United
States and Pakistan and US skepticism about whether Islamabad is fully
committed to defeating Islamic extremism despite billions of of dollars
in annual military and civilian aid.Source: Geo Tv
Sherry submits bill for amending blasphemy laws
VoH News Watch
By Amir Wasim
ISLAMABAD, Nov.30: Amid announcements by the religious forces in the
country to resist any move to change the blasphemy laws, former
information minister and Pakistan People’s Party MNA Sherry Rehman has
submitted a bill to the National Assembly Secretariat seeking an end to
the death penalty under the existing blasphemy laws.
Former information minister and Pakistan People’s Party MNA Sherry
Rehman had submitted a private member’s bill as she believed that
blasphemy laws as set out in the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) found their
roots in colonial laws. – AFP Photo
Talking to Dawn here on Monday, Ms Rehman said that she had submitted a
private member’s bill as she believed that blasphemy laws as set out in
the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) found their roots in colonial laws and
had in their present form become a source of victimisation and
persecution of the minorities in the country.
The amendments to the Blasphemy Act, she said, were intended to ensure
that all citizens of Pakistan had an equal right to constitutional
protection and that miscarriages of justice in the name of blasphemy
were avoided at all costs.
“The bill amends both the PPC and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the
two main sources of criminal law. The aim is to amend the codes to
ensure protection of Pakistan’s minorities and vulnerable citizens, who
routinely face judgments and verdicts in the lower courts where mob
pressure is often mobilised to obtain a conviction,” she said.
According to Ms Rehman, the definition of the term “blasphemy” is
currently vague, yet it carries a mandatory death sentence. Also, she
said, there were serious problems with the mechanisms to implement the
law. She said her proposed bill would rationalise the punishments
prescribed for offences relating to religion provided under Sections
295 and 298 of the PPC.
share save 120 16 Sherry submits bill for amending blasphemy laws.
Source: Dawn Pakistan