Another day, another arbitrarily imposed blasphemy case.
Over the weekend, police arrested Naushad Valiyani, a doctor in Hyderabad, for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Valiyani, who is Ismaili, was reportedly detained following a complaint by a medical representative, who said the doctor “threw his business card, which had his full name, Muhammad Faizan, in a dustbin during a visit to his clinic,” said regional police chief Mushtaq Shah. Shah further told the AFP, “Faizan accused Valiyani of committing blasphemy and asked police to register a case against the doctor.”
According to news agencies, Shah said the issue had been resolved after Valiyani apologized for throwing away the card, but “local religious leaders intervened and pressed for action.”
The police, far be it from actually thinking rationally about this whole incident, registered the case under the Blasphemy Act. And no, before you ask, they didn’t praise the doctor for not littering.
This development further illustrates exactly what we’ve been discussing for months – that unless these blasphemy laws are challenged, intolerance under the guise of the law will continue to reign supreme in Pakistan. It means that every man named Muhammad (which by the way, was “the most common given name in the world” according to Columbia Encyclopedia in 2000) can cry wolf and the law will cater to the person pointing the finger rather than the falsely accused. It means that the cacophony of the mob will always ring louder than the voice of sanity. And it means that there will be many more Aasia Bibi’s and Naushad Valiyani’s to come.
According to Saba Imtiaz at the Express Tribune, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has recorded a total of 24 blasphemy cases and convictions in 2010, and there are reportedly less cases in Sindh than in Punjab. According to HRCP director and activist IA Rehman, this is because, “Anti-Ahmadi sentiment is more prevalent in Punjab, where politics is also mixed with religion. The issue of Ahmadis in Punjab is where the blasphemy laws arose from.”
Osama Siddique [head of the law faculty at LUMS] and Zahra Hayat, in an article entitled, “Unholy Speech and Holy Laws: Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan—Controversial Origins, Design Defects, and Free Speech Implications,” for the Minnesota Journal of International Law, provide an in-depth review of the blasphemy laws, going back to the legislation’s origin. They noted,
…the blasphemy laws form a part of a larger pattern in which the subjugation of legislation to political expediency has subverted the processes of justice in Pakistan…the blasphemy laws…are not the product of a pluralistic and participatory democratic discourse. Instead, they are essentially the legislative interventions of a military dictator who adopted a theocratic rhetoric and agenda for clearly self-serving motivations.
Therefore, the authors note, the very genesis and foundation of the laws were “highly tainted.” In fact, an interesting difference between the original sections of Chapter 15 in the Indian Penal Code and the blasphemy laws is “the elimination of any requirement of intent.” According to Siddique and Hayat, “The 1860 and 1927 versions of the Indian Penal Code greatly emphasize the intention of the accused.” In section 295, for instance, it stated, “with the intention of thereby insulting the religion of any class of persons or with the knowledge that any class of persons is likely to consider such destruction, damage or defilement as an insult to their religion.” Proving the intent of the accused (that it was deliberate and premeditated) was therefore a prerequisite in making the defendant liable for conviction.
Not so in the case of the blasphemy laws, where there is no mention of the defendant’s intent. This has of course had tremendous ramifications for the law and its arbitrary application, which has been further compounded by the legislation’s lack of specificity, “making their ambit virtually limitless,” noted Siddique and Hayat. The authors also noted the deficiencies of the lower courts in Pakistan, which first take up the blasphemy-registered cases, and are “historically under-funded, under-trained, and over-burdened with work.” In fact, both the provincial and federal governments allocate less than 1% of their budgets to Pakistan’s judiciary, meaning that, all together, justice continues to be under-prioritized in Pakistan.
Even if these laws aren’t completely appealed (and given how often the government caves to the religious right, their complete appeal seems unlikely in the immediate future), Siddique and Hayat note that by addressing the fundamental design and draft of these laws we can at least begin to tackle their current misuse and exploitation.
The issue, as a whole, leaves me hollow. But this incredible spoken word set by Mary Kay, entitled “Hands” echoes my sentiment completely, particularly when she says: Each country sees their fists as warriors/And others as enemies/Even if fists alone are only hands…Hands are not about politics/When did it become so complicated/I always thought it simple.
[For a great related piece, see Cafe Pyala’s Open Letter to the Chief Justice].
Hate is a strong word….and I have reserved it for Zia. I don’t think I hate anyone more than I hate Zia. The bigoted army dictator who is the root of all problems facing Pakistan today.
A secular and sustainable democratic system might be the only hope for Pakistanis.
A counter intuitive suggestion for repealing blasphemy law or amend it to death is to “spam” the courts/police with outrageous blasphemy incidents exploiting loopholes in the law.Encourage police to file FIR against Jamaat-e-Islami/MNA types with blasphemy acts.This will get their consent to amend the act to make it abuse-proof and hopefully redundant.That is the only way I see it happening.All you need is a bit of imagination which PPP-led Govt lacks.The perfect example of such intellectual bankruptcy is PM Gilani requesting return of convicted terrorist Aifa Siddiqui in #wikileaks #cablegate who is sort of top 3 in Al-Qaeda circles and possibly the only woman up there.
I think you make a fair point, and my advice wasn’t to spam the courts/police by exploiting loopholes but to undertake a challenge of the law itself.
Do you think the police will file FIR against JI types? I think it’s a really unique approach, but considering that in all recent cases I’ve read, the police have bowed to the demands of the religious right, I’m a little cautious to presume they’d register them with blasphemy acts willingly/easily. Plus, so many of these cases happen at the very bottom and are thrown out by the time we even hear about them – don’t you think it’s likely to happen with cases like that too? I think strong police training/judiciary strengthening needs to occur in conjunction with this legal top-down approach, in order for us to *perhaps* see a difference.
You cannot challenge the law in Court as the Constitution is itself claims Pakistan is an Islamic Country. Very hard to argue in the Court that Blasphemy is against Islam. Impossible even.
The Constitution is not going to change for the foreseeable future so this law is here to stay.
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Why “Mullahs” are so important in Pakistan? Nowadays its very common there whether a actress is going in india in a celebrity show or a Nausad simply throwing a business card, they just bark. Pakistan should give more importancy in education rather than military. Untill major proportion of society remained uneducated, semi-educated or not properly educated then mullahs are the intellectuals. People should kick the ass of this FATTand Long bearded animals.
Fortunately, in Bangladesh, for the last decade the mullahs influence in our society has changed dramatially,gathering of Mullahs is also vanishing day by day they mostly appear in TV during Ramadan for holi Quran incitation. The reason is simple “Education”.
[…] Another day, another arbitrarily imposed blasphemy case. Over the weekend, police arrested Naushad Valiyani, a doctor in Hyderabad, for allegedly insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Valiyani, who is Ismaili, was reportedly detained following a complaint by a medical representative, who said the doctor … Read More […]
Excellent topic! Nothing is more abhorrent than a law restricting the exercise of free speech.
I think the government of Pakistan should be held liable for war crimes in their enforcement of this backward medievalism. I can only hope riots break out in the streets to bring about reform. Seems to be the MO in Pakistan to get anything done.
While on the topic, we need a lot more blasphemy in Pakistan! Most Pakistanis are Muslims based on nothing but the sheer accident of the geographic location and the historical time of their birth. If they were instead born in Denmark in the time of the vikings, they would presumably believe in Thor. If they were born in classical Greece, they would probably believe in Zeus. And then to extend this audacity to ridiculous proportions and criminalize speaking against the obvious falsity of the theory of god, it’s just a disgrace.
If you’re going to be religious, you need to be sensitive to the fact that science has all but proved your theory on the origin of the universe to be false. While any arguments for intelligent design could be true in theory, it’s not “science.” Science is an enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of TESTABLE explanations only.
In sum, a law against blasphemy is a law prohibiting the public understanding of science.
HGW,
Thanks for your very strong comment! While I don’t know if broaching the blasphemy topic from the angle, “science has proved the basis of your religion (creation) false,” but I see where you’re coming from. In Pakistan though, I think you have to argue the blasphemy laws within the nuances of the society, meaning an attack on religion itself may not be smart considering how intrinsically linked it has become in the state identity. I think it needs to be approached in a more subtle way, but I agree that it needs to be overturned at the end of the day – I just don’t think it’ll happen overnight.
another silly guy enchanted by ‘scientism’
Those who level false accusations on others on the pretext of blasphemy must be severely punished .
Religious leaders should realize they should not support injustice and they will be accountable on the day of Qiyamah
I am grateful I am a muslim and wish others like hgw gain hidaya too
While Zia was no ameer ul momineen.The blasphemy law is derived from Sharia. Thus i feel it is a dishonest conclusion to draw that it was a product of Zia era. Thats a bit like saying believing Qadiani an impostor is legacy of Bhutto rather than Shariat.
As for Pakistan and not other muslims countries. Well other muslim countries have not endorsed their blasphemy law through shariah but Pakistan has. Its not a legacy of Mullah ,its the legacy of Muhammad s.a.w.Deal with it.