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Journalism of Courage
The suicide of a Catholic bishop in Pakistan is a measure of the extremes to which the minority Christian community has been driven by the application of the blasphemy law to its members. That law, introduced by a military dictator to win the support of Islamic fundamentalists, is an abomination and is regarded as such by Pakistanis who value human life and freedom. It is archaic, oppressive and lends itself very easily to abuse. Neither of the democratic leaders who followed Ayub Khan has had the courage to take on the clerics even to amend the law to prevent the excesses committed under it. Perhaps the death in a Faisalabad courthouse of a leader of the Christian church who was also chairman of the National Commission of Peace and Justice will compel the government to review the law.
Blasphemy is a problematic issue to deal with in pluralistic societies which uphold both religious freedom and free speech. In liberal democratic societies which, like Britain, still maintain blasphemy laws on their books,they are applied rarely, if at all, and then gently. Indian law tends to give primacy to protecting the religious sentiments of all denominations but the practice has been uneven, to say the least. It is a different matter altogether in theocratic Islamic states where blasphemy laws are meant to protect the state religion above all else from dissenters and reformers within as well as critics outside. Religious minorities usually do not enjoy the same rights in law as the majority community under such systems. The worst treatment is reserved for schisms and sects of the state religion as the official persecution of Ahmediyas in Pakistan testifies. Pakistan8217;s law suffers from bigotry, regressiveness and more. The rules of evidence ensure bias against the accused with the result that, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan points out, the courts tend to accept virtually any accusation against a Christian so long as it is made by a Muslim. Despite such infirmities, the death sentence can and has been deliveredby lower courts.
