Sahil Shahid and Raheel Shahid (in white shirt) after acquittal of blasphemy expenses on Jan. 25, 2025. (Christian Every day Worldwide-Morning Star Information)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Every day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – In what attorneys in Pakistan termed a “large ray of hope,” a federal excessive courtroom on Tuesday (July 15) directed the federal government to kind an inquiry fee inside 30 days to research blatant abuse of blasphemy legal guidelines.
Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan of the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom (IHC) ordered the formation of the physique to research widespread misuse of the cruel legal guidelines, strengthened through the Nineteen Eighties by army ruler Gen. Ziaul Haq in an obvious bid to win over Islamist teams and safeguard perceptions of Muhammad, prophet of Islam, and the Quran.
Justice Khan issued the order whereas listening to a case involving a number of blasphemy circumstances that got here with allegations of repeated patterns of abuse. Households of greater than 100 victims of false blasphemy circumstances alleged that officers from the anti-blasphemy unit of the cybercrime part of the Federal Investigation Company (FIA), legal professionals and others conspired to honey-trap harmless individuals, together with Christians, into sharing content material deemed blasphemous, later utilizing it to extort cash by threatening authorized motion.
They alleged that those that refused to pay have been prosecuted below blasphemy legal guidelines, exposing them to vigilante violence. Over time, a number of people accused of blasphemy have been killed extra-judicially by Muslim extremists, in line with varied analysis teams.
The petition within the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom was first filed in September 2024, and the courtroom held not less than 42 hearings earlier than issuing Tuesday’s directive to the federal authorities to kind the investigative fee inside 30 days. The excessive courtroom justice mentioned the fee should full its inquiry inside 4 months, though it may request an extension from the courtroom if crucial.
The Centre for Analysis and Safety Research (CRSS) has documented 701 blasphemy circumstances between 1947 and 2021, with 1,415 individuals accused, 1,308 males and 107 ladies. A minimum of 89 individuals have been killed and 30 injured in associated violence. Amongst these killed have been 72 males and 17 ladies, it said.
The information confirmed a pointy rise in circumstances following the 1986 amendments launched by Haq that made blasphemy a capital offence. Earlier than these modifications, solely 11 circumstances had been reported, with three individuals killed.
The Nationwide Fee for Human Rights, in its newest report masking the interval from October 2023 to July 2024, raised alarm over a surge in blasphemy expenses, allegedly fueled by entrapment by way of pornographic and blasphemous web sites.
“The investigation’s findings highlighted a troubling pattern: a pointy enhance in registration of blasphemy circumstances, nearly all of whom have been initiated by the FIA’s cybercrime unit, incessantly in collaboration with a non-public entity,” it said.
The fee linked the rise in circumstances to the implementation of the Prevention of Digital Crimes (Modification) Act of 2018, noting that younger males have been focused by way of entrapment techniques involving feminine operatives with faux identities who lured them into blasphemous actions on-line, ensuing of their subsequent arrests.
“This sample, which has escalated considerably over time, requires a complete evaluate of the roles and accountability of each authorities and personal entities concerned in such circumstances,” the report said.
The report additionally said that 11 blasphemy circumstances have been reported in 2020, 9 in 2021, 64 in 2022, 213 in 2023 and 767 till July 2024. The victims of false blasphemy expenses embrace individuals from all faiths, however the majority of them are Muslims.
The information compiled by the CRSS confirmed that these accused of blasphemy between 1947-2021 embrace 947 Muslims and 421 non-Muslims, whereas the religion of 47 was unknown. Among the many non-Muslims accused, 225 have been Christians, adopted by 174 Ahmadis, 20 Hindus and one Sikh and Buddhist every.
In probably the most high-profile circumstances, Punjab Gov. Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by his personal safety guard in 2011 after he publicly known as for reforming the blasphemy legal guidelines.
Throughout Tuesday’s listening to, the courtroom additionally expressed concern over the “disappearance” of a Komal Ismail, alias “Imaan,” a girl believed to be a central determine in a number of ongoing blasphemy-related circumstances. She was allegedly used to honey-trap a number of individuals accused of blasphemy.
Komal went lacking in November, two months after the petition was filed. The courtroom had earlier ordered the blocking of her nationwide id card and barred her from leaving the nation after she failed to seem in courtroom.
“Her life could also be in peril. What motion can the [government] company soak up such a scenario?” the justice requested, expressing concern over her security.
‘Ray of Hope’
Attorneys representing petitioning households mentioned the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom’s verdict gave hope for harmless victims of the blasphemy regulation.
“This can be a large ray of hope and it’s the first time that the households have felt heard,” mentioned lawyer Imaan Mazari-Hazar, who represented a number of the households of arrested women and men, advised reporters after the listening to. “Tons of of youths have been falsely roped into circumstances of such a delicate nature that the stigma will final perpetually even when they’re acquitted.”
One other petitioning lawyer, Hadi Ali Chattha, advised media after the decision that he hoped the proposed fee would expose the nexus between the FIA and Islamist legal professionals behind the surge in blasphemy circumstances.
“The legal professionals of the ‘blasphemy enterprise group’ tried their finest to subvert the proceedings of the case, however we recognize the decide for dealing with this delicate matter correctly,” he mentioned.
Chattha mentioned his crew had filed a writ petition within the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom primarily based on a report by the Particular Department of the Punjab Police that mentioned a gang primarily based within the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi was fabricating blasphemous content material and entrapping harmless youths in faux circumstances for financial achieve.
“We moved the excessive courtroom for looking for its course for formation of a high-powered investigative fee to probe the Particular Department report,” he mentioned. “Responding to the excessive courtroom’s discover, the federal authorities by way of an extra lawyer basic on Jan. 31 mentioned that the federal government was involved in regards to the experiences of the actions of the gang and was able to kind a fee but it surely required pointers from the excessive courtroom on the best way ahead.”
The decide beneficial that the fee ought to embrace a retired decide of the Supreme Courtroom or excessive courtroom, a retired senior officer of the FIA who understood the difficulty and an skilled of knowledge expertise. Chattha added {that a} serving decide by regulation couldn’t turn out to be a part of the inquiry because it was not a judicial inquiry.
On Feb. 28, the lawyer basic knowledgeable the courtroom that the federal government had been unable to search out appropriate members for the fee because of the sensitivity of the difficulty, he mentioned.
“In the meantime, the members of the alleged blasphemy enterprise gang advised the courtroom that they have been against the formation of the fee as a result of the courtroom had not given them a possibility to clarify their case,” Chattha mentioned. “The decide advised them to file their statements earlier than the fee, however they insisted that the courtroom ought to hear them.”
The decide granted their request however ordered that proceedings could be broadcast dwell on YouTube for data for most of the people, he mentioned.
“Their legal professionals at the moment are claiming that they haven’t been given an opportunity to current their case, whereas the actual fact is that each one their counsels acquired enough time to argue their case after which we have been advised to submit our rebuttals,” he mentioned. “Now that the courtroom has given its verdict, they’re attempting to propagate that they weren’t given a possibility to talk, which is opposite to the information.”
Commenting on the 4 months given to the fee for investigating the difficulty, Chattha mentioned he hoped the inquiry could be accomplished within the stipulated time attributable to availability of the related information.
A leaked 2024 report by the Punjab Police into the sudden spike in circumstances discovered that “a suspicious gang was trapping youth in blasphemy circumstances” and could also be motivated by monetary achieve.
The Authorized Fee on Blasphemy Pakistan (LCBP) is reportedly probably the most energetic of lawyer teams prosecuting younger males in Pakistan. Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi, one of many group’s leaders, advised AFP in October that “God has chosen them for this noble trigger.”
In recent times, a number of youths have been convicted and handed loss of life sentences, though no execution has ever been carried out for blasphemy in Pakistan.
“We’ll totally help the probe fee and are assured that our voices will lastly be listened to, our considerations might be heard, and the reality will come out,” a relative of one of many suspects who requested anonymity out of concern of backlash advised AFP.
Pakistan, whose inhabitants is greater than 96 p.c Muslim, ranked eighth on Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Checklist of probably the most troublesome locations to be a Christian.
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