Sunday, 15 May 2016

Why Blasphemy Laws Should Not Be On Books

PAKISTAN:  In these days, a Christian community of a small village Chak 44 of Tehsil Phalia, District Mandi Bahauddin, Punjab is under threats from a charged Muslim mob of surrounding areas after a rumor campaign raised against a Christian sweeper Imran Masih who was falsely accused of watching anti-Islam video lecture on his cell phone of a Pastor .The voice crying in the wilderness reaches to The Honorable Jim Shannon MP House of Common of United Kingdom who wrote a letter to Mr. Muhammad Nawaz Sharif The Prime Minister of Pakistan to take appropriate measures to protect Christians of the village Chak 44 of Tehsil Phalia, District Mandi Bahauddin.

A noted Christian human rights defender lawyer, Sardar Mushtaq Gill who heads LEAD, has urged for an immediate repeal of the blasphemy laws. He termed the law as "cruel and inhumane" not only for accused but also for the whole Christian community,in this way  the blasphemy laws are more dangerous than terrorism for Christians in Pakistan keeping in view the previous attacks at Christian’s localities on the pretext of blasphemy.
Under this law all the human rights violations undoubtedly would occur if unluckily the accused is a Christian. No fair investigation, no fair trial, extra-judicial killing, whole Christian community at risk, it is not in line with international standards on freedom of expression; freedom of thought, conscience and religion and it is also against the fundamental rights which are basic rights to survive in this world.

The bitter fact is that the misuse of the blasphemy law is a common practice mostly to decide personal vendetta and there is no proper policy of Pakistani authority how to take appropriate measures to protect Christians from the charged mob motivated on the pretext of blasphemy issue.

The more disturbing factor for us to consider is that no one has the power to criticize as the notorious law after the assassination of two high profile political figures. The people who defend the accused of this law take personal life risk and sometime loss their life. Every case is harmful not only for victim but also for the community, every case is a tragedy and behind every one of them there are more tribulations and the defender will not be successful unless he himself takes life risk to defend them; and the requirement for the success in every case is 'passion' and for which you [Defender] have to put his own life at stake.

The victims of the law and their supporters should not be deliberately downplayed and the religiously motivated attacks on Christians should be covered and documented for the future security measures’ adoption and their rescue mission by the media, charities, human rights organizations, church leaders and Christian organizations not just for their own show of work on websites for this the blasphemy laws should not be on books to take precious life of Christian and now the time to speak against the dangerous misuse of the law to oppress poor and helpless Christians in Pakistan.

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