A little spat between farm labourer women. That was all it was. And this would have remained just that, with the exchange of a few harsh words both ways had one of them not happened to be a Christian needled no end to convert. The ill-fated Aasiya Bibi, whose only provocation presumably was taking water from the same vessel that her Muslim fellow workers used, was subsequently accused of blasphemy.
And that, as has happened so many times before in the Zia and post-Zia quarter century, consigned Aasiya to hell. Incarcerated for a year and a half, despite scant proof and evidence so non-cognizable that it would not even hold in a kangaroo court, she has become the first woman punished to death by a sessions judge.
Aasiya is lucky. She is alive, and she would certainly walk out of jail, sooner than later. Her fate could have been far worse. She could have been dead, like so many others before her, lynched by a mob in red hot frenzy secure in the thought that neither the long arm of law would reach it nor would there be any reprisal. If anything, the police and the justice system would collude with them and extend protection.
The last two weeks since that ignominious judgment has only earned Pakistan disgrace and scorn worldwide, with Pope Benedict making an appeal for Aasiyas release. But the good thing, the silver lining so to speak, is that the sentencing has brought back the focus on the blasphemy law. The drafting and intent of this law is so patently flawed that even some sections of the dyed-in-the-wool clergy known for its intransigence, now concedes that it discriminates against the accused. And also that it has been used to falsely frame and discriminate against the minorities.
Why the perpetrators, the religious extremists and the opportunists gunning to be one-up on a defenseless Christian, Hindu or an Ahmadi are never brought to justice? What happened to the Gojra carnage inquiry? Why the mullah who whipped up such frenzy with vitriol from the pulpit remains free? How easy it was for each of the six arrested for torching Christian homes in Gojra and burning people alive to get bail from a division bench of the Lahore High Court all for a surety bond of Rs100,000 apiece. And the so palpably negligent police and local administration officials were never taken to task.
By now it is quite evident that instead of going to the rescue post-haste, curb excesses and ensuring due process, the state machinery invariably discriminates against the accused and is partial to the perpetrators.
And when it comes to the courts, the judges particularly those in the lower judiciary are too overawed by the religious and sectarian vigilantes to ensure that the victim is put in the dock as accused gets a fair trial. Though the higher courts provide some reprieve but only if the mob of zealots lets the accused live till that stage.
Yet the incidence of blasphemy related violence is on the rise, more so in the Punjab in terms of sheer number of cases as well as magnitude. Could it be because the PML N government here is sympathetic to the zealots and is lax in use the state machinery because it fears that it would negatively impact its rightist vote bank?
In the circumstances, while Governor Salman Taseer attempt to facilitate presidential pardon for Aasiya though may fall in the realm of political point scoring, but so disadvantageous is the venture that it also is an act of courage.
This blasphemy law has caused such acrimony, given such deep sense of perpetual persecution to the minorities that calls for its repeal or reform must be heeded to is a given. But essential as that is, the societal issue too needs to be addressed to stop wanton transgressions against the minorities. For this, attitudes and mindset needs to change.
People need to beware that while the yearning to protect the good name of the Prophet is a noble one, those who use it as an excuse to for personal gains or the perpetuation of inbuilt prejudice commit blasphemy themselves. It is they who are hiding behind the good name of our Prophet.
The crux of it is that this law has spawned dehumanized phantoms that are not in the least loath to sink to the lowest of depths. A case of blasphemy in itself, if there ever was one.
The writer is Sports and Magazines Editor, Pakistan Today.