On June 20, a local tourist was lynched and burned alive by a mob in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on charges of blasphemy for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran. The man, from Sialkot in Punjab, was staying at a hotel in Madian, a popular tourist destination in the Swat district, nicknamed the “Switzerland of Pakistan.”
After the man was found to have committed an act of blasphemy, he was arrested and handed over to the police. Soon after, an announcement was made over the mosque’s loudspeakers about the man’s alleged crime, and a mob gathered outside the police station, demanding that he be handed over. When the police refused to agree, the mob advanced towards Madian Police Station, setting the station and police vehicles on fire, after which the police fled the station.
The mob then dragged the man from the safe custody and poured fuel over his body before setting him on fire. The crowd recorded the horrific incident, and the video was later shared on social media, drawing global condemnation. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police then formed a joint investigation team to investigate the incident, and so far 23 people responsible for the murder have been arrested, with another 2,000 listed as unidentified suspects, Arab News PK reported.
This latest case in a long list of blasphemy-related vigilante trials, while gruesome and sordid, is not unusual and has renewed concerns about the misuse and abuse of blasphemy laws in Pakistan. It comes less than a week after a 14-year-old boy reportedly stabbed to death a Shiite man in his mid-50s, accusing him of blasphemy for speaking out against the Prophet’s Companions.
Current status of blasphemy laws in Pakistan
Like many of Pakistan’s draconian laws, its blasphemy laws date back to British colonial rule and were further strengthened under the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s. As part of a broader Islamization campaign, Zia added a host of blasphemy laws to the Pakistan Penal Code, including Sections 295 and 298. The more notorious Section 295-c, for example, mandates the death penalty for anyone who makes derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad.
The case in question falls under Section 295-b (Desecrating the Quran), which provides for life imprisonment. Therefore, even by this standard, the abhorrent punishment meted out to this man is unjustified, especially as it was meted out to him for an unproven crime at the hands of a non-state actor, a mob. Defense Minister Khwaja Asif, who acknowledged the case in Pakistan’s parliament, said that “no religious minority is safe in Pakistan” and called it “a worrying and shameful issue for the nation.” Similar cases have been occurring more and more frequently in recent times, a clear sign of the deep corruption that persists in the country.
In early June, a Christian man died after being seriously injured by a mob in Sargodha, Punjab, for allegedly committing blasphemy. In February, a woman was nearly lynched in Lahore by a mob who accused her of blasphemy because she was wearing a dress decorated with Arabic calligraphy, which she mistook for verses from the Quran. Fortunately for the girl, police officer Sheharbano Naqvi instead of fleeing was brave enough to rescue her from the cultists, for which she was recommended for the Quaid-e-Azam Police Medal.
In August 2023, suspected blasphemy led to a major attack on the Christian community in Jalanwala, Faisalabad district of Punjab.
The Pakistani government condemned the incident after pages of the holy Quran were found desecrated near the homes of two Christians. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a far-right religio-political group leading the country’s blasphemy laws, is believed to be responsible for inciting mob violence against Christians. Though it was banned by former Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2021 (a decision that was reversed months later), the rise of the TLP has meant a surge in mob trials for blasphemy.
The TLP, which adheres to the Balervi-Sunni sect of Islam, entered electoral politics following the 2016 execution of Mumtaz Qadri, who assassinated former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who had called for reform of blasphemy laws. Some may see the TLP’s declining political fortunes in the 2024 elections as a sign of popular rejection of its radical approach. But such incidents are a stark reminder that they do not necessarily mean a loss of ideological prowess and power on the streets.
Government complicity
A 2023 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom revealed that more than 2,100 people have been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan since 1987, with 40 currently on death row and at least 89 killed by mobs on such charges. Thinly-founded accusations are sometimes fabricated to settle personal or political interests and persecute minorities, leading to vigilante mobs taking matters into their own hands before the courts can formally handle them. In the case of legal proceedings, judges hearing blasphemy cases and lawyers defending the accused are intimidated and harassed, leading to unfair trials for fear of issuing rulings that anger hardline Islamists.
Meanwhile, the police, despite having advance knowledge of the threat to suspects’ lives, are often powerless to act swiftly for three main reasons: first, they fear vigilante retaliation; second, their penchant for enforcing blasphemy laws may make them sympathetic to the mob; and lastly, and more based on the current situation, the police are understaffed and ill-trained despite a sharp rise in terrorist attacks across the country.
There is little political will to address this issue, and politicians, beyond the obvious danger to their own lives and power, have used it to accuse opponents of blasphemy. In 2022, Imran Khan (the proponent of the blasphemy law) was faced with such an accusation by the Shehbaz Sharif government after his ouster. To make matters worse, successive governments have made statements in support of the law, thereby further strengthening it.
In 2023, Pakistan’s parliament passed amendments broadening the scope of existing blasphemy laws, making insulting the Prophet Muhammad’s family, wives, companions, or the four caliphs punishable by 10 years in prison, up to life imprisonment, and a fine of 1 million rupees. ₹It imposed a $1 million fine and made the offense non-bailable. The New York Times I reported it afterwards.
This is not a unique phenomenon. By itself Witnessing religion’s significant influence in a country formed as the home of a particular faith suggests that religion has become a divisive tool rather than a unifying force. That is, religion has been used as a weapon against Muslims (and other non-Muslim minorities) for decades to derive moral superiority. This is especially true when the state’s failure to uphold its share of the social contract leaves its citizens with no other means to derive the same.
Instead of pandering to public sentiment, the government should repeal blasphemy laws or at least thoroughly examine such allegations and reconsider the nature and extent of the penalties.
Moreover, stringent measures must be taken against those who instigate mob violence. Failure to do so will set a dangerous precedent that allows non-state actors to operate with impunity. This is certainly a difficult task given Pakistan’s history of leaders using religion as a political tool since the country’s inception. But corrective measures will be essential to the country’s very existence to stem the full tide towards extremism.
Vanthirani Patro is a Research Scientist at the Centre for Aerodynamic Research, New Delhi. Views expressed here are personal.
