All views deserve reverence on the procedural aspects of the Blasphemy Law
The Senate’s Human Rights Committee will hold discussions on the procedural and technical aspects of the Blasphemy Law to ensure it is not abused for settling personal scores or for other ulterior motives as alleged and found affirmative in the past in some cases. The debate should proceed in a restrained manner, with parameters wisely set out, to avoid a self-defeating controversy. But the decision to move forward after a lapse of two decades is a welcome step.
The Senate Committee will not need to start from scratch on this issue. Its bedrock and starting point will be an earlier Senate Report of 1992, containing recommendations which were recently found in the archives. Two aspects of the existing law are being focused on to make it fair and error-free for the benefit and safety of all concerned. First, the essential need to properly and objectively investigate a complaint and be absolutely convinced of its authenticity, before registering a police case. Often, rumours or hearsay are enough to trigger fatal violence by a charged mob, and before the police can respond, innocent lives may already be lost. Cases of the type need to be stopped with an iron hand as was done when a mob burnt a Christian couple alive in Raiwind. Reportedly, 65 people, including Judges, lawyers and defendants have been killed since 1990. The second, replacing the death penalty with life imprisonment, is more controversial as the Federal Shariat Court in a ruling in October 1990 had called this a violation of Islamic injunctions.
The minorities feel uncomfortable with the form of the law as it presently stands. At times even devout Muslims have been accused of committing blasphemy. It is also true that vigilante actions caused horrible deaths, such as burning the alleged accused alive, which sent shock waves among the minorities and damaged the country’s image abroad. The Committee needs to formulate its suggestions after consulting all stake-holders particularly the minorities and theulema and prepare a draft that can be passed by Parliament.