Inelastic doctrine

People can be charged for blasphemy under section 295 A, B, C and 505 of Pakistan Penal Code. Recent instances of blasphemy cases have once again brought the issue into the public sphere and prompted a discussion on whether or not blasphemy is an Islamic concept. Blasphemy laws have been severely misused in the past. One such tragic case was that of Gul Masih who was sentenced to death in 1992 for allegedly passing a remark on Prophet Mohammed. In a more recent case, Munawar Mohsin, a subeditor of the Frontier Post was sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of PKR 50,000 in July 2003, for publishing a letter to the editor titled "Why Muslims Hate Jews", which contained allegedly derogatory references to Prophet Mohammad. Most recently, an accused in a blasphemy who had been released on bail was killed early last month. In another instance, a Lahore shoemaker also attracted charges under the blasphemy law. And in one of the most celebrated cases in the country, which attracted international attention, a medical lecturer in Rawalpindi, Younus Shaikh, was sentenced to death in 2001. In 1998, High Court Judge Arif Iqbal Hussain Bhatti was shot dead in Lahore for reversing the death sentence against two people charged for blasphemy. The number of blasphemy cases is on the rise but the level of insecurity is now so high that many lawyers are afraid to take them on.

At the root of the problem is a small segment of religious hardliners who exploit religious sentiments and inflame popular passions using any excuse available. Blasphemy cases are useful instruments for them and they use religious hypersensitivity to add to the general climate of sectarian intolerance accompanied by violence and death. The hardliners have been consistently exerting pressure on the government to strengthen blasphemy laws. They ignore the historical fact that blasphemy laws were introduced by the British back in 1860 in a misguided attempt to reduce tension between Hindus and Muslims. The laws were instituted for purely administrative reasons and do not have any basis in religious tenets.