Akash Karamat, who was arrested on August 27, 2023, is accused under Section 295-C of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which prohibit acts that insult the Prophet Muhammad. He was arrested along with a co-accused, 35-year-old Zamran. Karamat was 17-year-old at the time of his arrest.

According to Karamat’s lawyer, Asad Jamal, three separate cases have been registered against the accused based solely on suspicion.

In July, following multiple hearings over four months, the court confirmed Karamat’s juvenile status, making him the first minor charged under this specific blasphemy law in such a manner.

The defense counsel told Dissent Today that Karamat was not mentioned in the initial complaint and was only implicated weeks later without reasonable grounds for the allegations. The reliance on the complainant’s delayed supplementary statements has led courts to consider the charges weak, per the counsel.

He added that the police had all the records to declare the accused a juvenile from the very beginning, but they didn’t because, in such a case, he would be entitled to the leniency granted to juveniles under the Juvenile Justice System Act, including the right to bail.

Despite qualifying for bail due to his juvenile status, Karamat’s petitions have been denied by the trial court, resulting in his continued detention as his case is now under review by the Lahore High Court.

Karamat’s lawyer stated that his ongoing incarceration violates multiple rights outlined in the Constitution of Pakistan, including the right to liberty, a fair trial, dignity, and freedom from discrimination.

The city of Sargodha, situated in Punjab province, has recently witnessed heightened tension concerning Christian minorities, especially amidst anti-Christian riots in nearby Faisalabad. The timing of Karamat’s accusations coincides with a surge in blasphemy-related violence in the region, including incidents such as the lynching of a Christian man in Jaranwala in 2023.

Prior to his arrest, Karamat was a student, and his family remains committed to his education, having already deposited admission fees for him to continue his studies as a private candidate.

News Desk

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“Take me instead of my brother, please. He can’t handle the torture. I will confess to whatever you want,” Zahid*, 32, desperately pleaded with the officials of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and members of a shady criminal extremist group at the FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Center in Rawalpindi. 

He has been incarcerated for over two years on blasphemy charges in Adiala Jail, Islamabad, despite the fact that he is legally entitled to be released on bail on statutory grounds. Prosecution witnesses often fail to show up at the trial, which has been prolonged for too long. 

Zahid is not alone. 

As of July 25, 2024, over 700 young Pakistanis are incarcerated across various jails in the country on allegations of blasphemy, according to the National Commission on Human Rights (NCHR). The provincial breakdown of these “blasphemy” arrests is as follows: 581 cases from Punjab, 120 from Sindh, 64 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two from Balochistan. 

The NCHR conducted an extensive investigation into these cases and highlighted a “troubling trend”: a sharp increase in the registration of blasphemy cases, the majority of which were initiated by the FIA’s cybercrime unit, often in collaboration with a private entity.

A report by the Punjab Police’s Special Branch explains the nature and operations of this “private entity,” which is operating in the manner of a business group for the purpose of hunting “blasphemers” and then extorting them. The report reveals the following:

1. There is a gang of suspicious individuals based in Islamabad and Rawalpindi who are trapping impressionable young people in blasphemy cases and subsequently referring these cases to the FIA.
2. This gang reportedly consists of a number of men and women, and is allegedly led by Sheraz Ahmed Farooqi, who poses as a member of the extremist group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

3. A lawyer named Rao Abdur Raheem Advocate is also identified as a member of this gang.

4. Rao, Sheraz, and their associates have formed an organization called the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan.

5. This gang acts as the complainant in approximately 90% of the blasphemy cases reported to and registered by the FIA.

6. They have created various WhatsApp and Facebook groups on social media to lure in and trap youth. Once involved, these individuals are falsely implicated in blasphemy cases in collaboration with certain elements within the FIA, with the intent of extorting them.The number of people entrapped by this group is astounding, and the question is, what possible motive over 700 unconnected youth from different parts of the country could have to commit blasphemy using electronic devices? Some of these young individuals are chemical engineers, while others are laborers, and many come from extremely religious or conservative backgrounds.  

The NCHR report includes testimony from a lawyer who stated that he has been “ostracized by the legal community solely for accepting such cases.” 

The figures quoted are astounding, and the question is, what possible motive over 700 unconnected youth from different parts of the country could have to commit blasphemy using electronic devices? Some of these young individuals are chemical engineers, while others are laborers, and many come from extremely religious or conservative backgrounds. 

We have also heard from our clients that nearly all of our clients were lured to Islamabad and other locations by a woman under the false pretense of “friendship” or job opportunities. After arriving, they were trapped by this Blasphemy Business Group whose members seized their phones and planted incriminating content on them. There is a pronounced lack of forensic examination of devices, which is essential for securing objective evidence in such cases.

While over 700 victims are alive and facing trial, some have not been able to withstand the torture. One such victim was Nauman*, who died after enduring severe abuse, evident from the bruises and marks covering his body when it was washed.

A common factor in all these cases is that the mobile devices of the “accused “ individuals are retained by the Blasphemy Business Group and FIA officials before being sent for any technical or forensic analysis.

Interestingly, one of the primary architects of this criminal enterprise, Advocate Raheem, has been identified by the Special Branch of Punjab. He carries content related to his activities on his phone and seeks to share it with various individuals in an effort to gain support and funding for his “noble mission” of identifying blasphemers. 

I have learned that some senior politicians and affluent influencers have donated large sums of money to him, unaware that the true objective of the group is extortion for personal benefit.

To give readers an idea of the extent of injustice and insanity, it is important to refer to one of the cases we are working on: the case of Farhan*, a young man who is blind and has been charged with creating and disseminating blasphemous content (despite clear and indisputable medical evidence of his blindness). 

The case against Farhan is perhaps one of the clearest examples of a false blasphemy accusation being concocted for the purpose of extortion. The group demanded a payment of Rs. 14 lakh from Farhan’s family in exchange for the FIA’s declaration of his innocence. Like many others who have silently paid their way out of this troubling situation, Farhan’s family would have done so as well if only they could afford it. However, because they cannot, Farhan’s application for acquittal has been pending before a Rawalpindi court for quite some time now, despite the fact that no incriminating material has been recovered from him and the evidence of his blindness.

The gang has actively created an environment of fear and intimidation, with the sole objective of securing convictions that it publicizes to obtain greater funds. 

This means the courts are unable to operate in a safe environment where judges can dispense justice without fear or favor. An Islamabad court dealing with these cases placed several cases on the E-court facility, preventing accused persons from even hearing the proceedings against them, in complete violation of their rights under Article 10A of Pakistan’s Constitution.

The prosecution story against the blasphemy-accused individuals is truly unbelievable, yet the charade continues across courts, particularly in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Moreover, we witnessed the court in Islamabad appeasing the group by writing 295C judgments in open court and seeking input from Advocate Raheem. The maxim “justice must not only be done but manifestly seen to be done” is not just dead but buried 10 feet underground.

How the Blasphemy Business Group fulfilled its rags-to-riches dream

Meanwhile, the reality is brazen: members of this group have significantly improved their standard of living since they began lodging these false cases in the FIA. According to the NCHR report, “Most of the accused individuals were from low socio-economic backgrounds with limited education,” and that “financial limitations hindered many accused individuals from accessing proper legal counsel.”

Several FIA officials have also profited from this exploitation, and the Blasphemy Business Group, in turn, has assisted many FIA officials (Grades 1-15) in securing regularization of their services, though the same officials were earlier contract employees.

Rao and the FIA officials are not alone—everyone in the group has realized their own rags-to-riches dreams in the name of religion, ensnaring innocent youth while enriching themselves. One member of the group, Raja Imran Khalil, is a lawyer involved in several cases in Rawalpindi and a complainant in a blasphemy case. 

From 2018 to 2020, he sold State Life Insurance policies. However, in January 2022, he was able to inaugurate a large, brand new office.

Despite the Special Branch Punjab’s findings that the sources of funding for this group are unknown, no one seems to question it.

Another member of the group is Ghazanfar Ali, who also appears in the Islamabad District Courts as an advocate. When Ghazanfar wishes to lodge an FIR with the FIA’s CCRC in Rawalpindi, he provides a Rawalpindi address for himself (as was done in FIR number. 85/2023). When he wishes to entrap people in Islamabad, he uses an Islamabad address as the complainant (as was done in FIR No. 138/2023). There is no scrutiny of anything submitted by the group to the FIA, which readily lodges FIRs and negotiates with families regarding the extortion amount.

The group continues to operate with impunity as the government turns a blind eye to the plight of hundreds of families across the country whose loved ones are languishing in jail for no reason other than their inability to pay the sums demanded of them. Officials in the FIA continue to partake in the racket because their fates and careers are now tied to the success of the group in court. Otherwise, this entire criminal enterprise would crumble, and the law would require that cases be lodged against members of the group and FIA officials involved in the scheme.

The most striking aspect is that several complainants in these FIRs admit, both in their applications to the FIA and in their testimonies before the courts, that they were members of the social media groups where blasphemous content was routinely shared. Yet, no one in the FIA—nor a single judge—dares to ask why these complainants remained in these blasphemous groups for so long, viewing incriminating content before they suddenly decided to report it.

Moreover, the FIA is quick to file complaint after complaint on their behalf. For example, FIR numbers 41/23, 212/23, 42/23, and 20/23 have all been lodged by the same complainant, Shehzad Khan, who is also a member of the Blasphemy Business Group, indicating that he is a resident of both Islamabad and Rawalpindi at the same time.

In the months that we have observed these cases, we have yet to see any legal arguments presented by members of the business group in a court of law, nor have we encountered any authentic evidence against the accused. Instead, we witness threats and intimidation masked as religious education from members of the gang, sending a clear message to the judges presiding over these cases: any decision to provide relief could have fatal consequences for the judge. This is not an empty threat, especially when we recall that Justice Arif Bhatti of the Lahore High Court was shot dead in his own chamber after acquitting 13-year-old Salamat Masih.

The real question remains: How can the government justify its silence on this glaring injustice and blatant abuse of the blasphemy law for the personal enrichment of a criminal group? How many more individuals will continue to be entrapped, extorted, tortured, and incarcerated for the sole purpose of enabling this gang to make a quick profit in the name of religion?

This madness and injustice has to stop, and members of this group need to be held accountable for their crimes. 

There has recently been a small glimmer of hope due to bail orders granted by the Sindh High Court in several cases. In an order dated December 11, 2024, concerning eight post-arrest bail applications, the Sindh High Court made the following observations:

1.  Several accused persons are not explicitly named in the FIRs.
2. There was no independent forensic examination conducted on the recovered material and devices.
3. The original source or creator of the content remains unidentified by the FIA, with reports suggesting that the source is “situated abroad in different countries.”

4. The reports submitted under Section 173 of the CRPC do not clearly indicate whether the data extracted from the mobile phones allegedly recovered from the applicants was edited by them or merely forwarded after being received from an unknown user, nor do they determine whether the purported blasphemous graphics are fake or genuine.

The Sindh High Court has raised important questions, but this has not come without consequences. As is typical of the business group, when outcomes do not favor them—specifically when courts uphold procedural and substantive safeguards mandated by law—they initiate a hateful and inflammatory campaign against lawyers and judges. This campaign includes issuing various press releases in which they label both judges and lawyers as blasphemers.

This is in line with their standard operating procedure throughout, where press releases have been issued after several hearings, categorizing the accused as a “blasphemer” without use of the word “alleged” and counsels for the accused as “lawyers of blasphemers.” After the recent Sindh High Court order, a campaign was launched demanding resignation of the judges. 

This criminal enterprise is not unknown to those in the corridors of power. Information on this business group’s operations has been conveyed to the highest levels of government, but they have expressed their inability to take action. The Blasphemy Business Group continues its reign of terror while some of the most hard working, enterprising and marginalized youth of this country suffer behind bars for something they never did. 

The tragedy is perhaps best encapsulated in a poem my paternal grandmother wrote during military dictator Zia ul Haq’s era, titled Aadhi gawahi (half testimony):

 تم حکمتِ دین کے پردے میں 

جائز کو ناجائز کرتے رہے 

کافر کو تو مسلم کر نا سکے 

مسلم کو کافر کرتے رہے

The Blasphemy Business Group is a direct byproduct of the state’s approach, which consistently permits the abuse of criminal law and religion to settle personal grievances. When individuals can file false blasphemy cases to resolve land disputes, it is no surprise that the Blasphemy Business Group believes it can exploit this system by submitting hundreds of fraudulent FIRs to the FIA for financial gain.

Today, hundreds of Pakistan’s hardworking youth are praying earnestly for someone to recognize this injustice and take action to stop it. Be their voice. Listen to their stories. Witness their families’ tears, and do not turn away simply because having this conversation is dangerous. 

These families deserve justice and an end to their suffering.

Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir

The writer is an Islamabad-based lawyer and human rights activist.

The post The Untold Plight of Over 700 Jailed Pakistanis Trapped in Blasphemy Cases appeared first on Dissent Today.

Karachi-based activist and dancer Sheema Kermani led the chanting, evoking the names of a long list of Pakistani Christian individuals and communities targeted by extremist elements in the name of religion over the years. 

The latest violence took place on Wednesday in Jaranwala town in Faisalabad (formerly Lyallpur) district in Punjab, the country’s largest province, with the highest concentration of Christians. The 2.6 million strong community (1.27 percent of Pakistan’s 220 million population) is the second-largest religious minority after Hindus. 

Hundreds of demonstrators joined Kermani on Saturday under a Karachi landmark, three marble ‘swords’ emblazoned with the words ‘Unity, Faith, Discipline’ – slogans attributed to the country’s founder M.A. Jinnah, revered as the ‘Quaid-i-Azam’ or Great Leader. 

On Sunday, the Christian community in Jaranwala held services at the destroyed churches. And in Washington D.C. several dozen Pakistani Christians and Muslims gathered at a prayer vigil in solidarity. 

Honour the white stripe

Pakistan’s first Minority Rights March took place on 11 August annually observed since 2009 as National Minorities Day. This year, the date marked the 76th anniversary of Jinnah’s 1947 speech before the Constituent Assembly, in which he promised freedom of religion to Pakistani citizens. The white stripe in Pakistan’s flag symbolises the country’s minorities. 

On 11 August 2023, demonstrations across the country brought together diverse minority groups together with mainstream Muslim allies in a public space – Sikhs, Christians, Zoroastrians, Hindus from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds — Tamil, Maratha, Gujarati, Marwari, Kathiawari, Sindhi, and Thari.

The March presented an 11-point charter of demands, calling to amend the ‘blasphemy laws’, stop forced conversions, protect minorities’ worship places, ensure equitable representation in institutions, update the curriculum and curb violent religious groups. 

A street theatre play presented by Sheema Kermani’s feminist group Tehrik-e-Niswan (Women’s Movement) at the March during the march highlighted these issues. 

‘Blasphemy’ accusations have grown exponentially since 1987, when the then military dictator Gen. Ziaul Haq amended a previous colonial-era law dealing with the offence of ‘injuring religious sentiments’. Besides adding harsh punishments, the critical words ‘malicious intent’ were dropped. 

 

After the first Minority Rights March days before attacks on the Christian community, protestors gather again in Karachi to reiterate demands to end violence in the name of religion

Until then, Pakistan saw just seven accusations of ‘blasphemy’ and two extrajudicial killings. Now, anyone can file a case against ‘blasphemy’ transgressions, real or imagined. Independent investigations find that these accusations often disguise personal vendettas. 

Section 295-C provides capital punishment for insulting the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). After the option of life imprisonment became defunct in 1991, it stipulates a mandatory death penalty. 

The first ‘blasphemy’ murder took place shortly afterwards. A Christian poet and schoolteacher Naimat Ahmar was killed in Faisalabad, after posters about his alleged transgression cropped up around town. Since then, at least 85 people have been killed following such allegations.

The late lawyer, UN rapporteur, and HRCP founder Asma Jahangir bravely defended the several ‘blasphemy’ accused individuals in the spate of accusations that cropped up after the law changed, facing threats and attacks. The defendants included the unlettered minor Salamat Masih, his father Rehmat Masih, and uncle Manzoor Masih. Manzoor died under a hail of bullets from unknown assailants outside a district court in 1994. After Jahangir obtained acquittal for Salamat and Rehmat, they had to flee abroad.

In 2019, at least 40 were serving life or on death row for ‘blasphemy’. From 1987 to 2022, over 2,000 ‘blasphemy’ cases have been filed. This year saw 57 cases of alleged blasphemy and four extrajudicial killings between January and May. 

Of those imprisoned under these laws, 52% belong to religious minority communities, while 48% are Muslims from various sects. 

Pakistan’s religious minorities form about 5% of the country’s 220 million strong population.

‘Malicious intent’

What can be done to reverse the injustices? 

To start with, “the words ‘malicious and deliberate intent’ need to be inserted into the law as ordered by the Federal Shariat Court in 1990 citing the International Commission of Jurists,” says Lahore-based researcher Arafat Mazhar, talking to Sapan News. 

His long-term project Engage Pakistan, based on years of solid research, includes a series of animated films to create awareness about these issues. He also started a petition this year outlining steps to Stop the Abuse and Weaponization of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws.

Many of the Minority Rights March organisers are also part of the annual Aurat or Women’s March launched in 2016 outside the colonial-era Frere Hall, Karachi. Other linked movements that started from that venue include one in support of the transgender community last year and a Climate March in June. 

“Each march inspires more activism and reminds us of the spirit of resistance that continues to exist here,” says feminist sociologist Nida Kirmani who works on gender and urban marginality in Southasia and joined the Minority Rights March in Karachi.

The demonstrations also remind the authorities of their responsibility to protect the rights of all citizens, she told Sapan News.  

Activists have long been calling for the state to hold the culprits accountable. Many demonstrated again in Karachi on Saturday to renew these calls after the Jaranwala attacks.

Such activism is necessary and must continue regardless of political turmoil or changes in government, says poet and scientist Gauhar Raza of Anhad India, watching the situation from New Delhi. 

“In the darkest period, we need such voices to keep the torch alight,” he tells Sapan News. “We need to give credit to those who consistently stand for what’s right, whether in Pakistan, India, or elsewhere.”

Misusing religion

The Jaranwala violence on 16 August is a chilling reminder of how religion continues to be misused in Pakistan. The pattern is familiar. There’s a quarrel or disagreement between two parties. Some hours or days later, there are accusations of ‘blasphemy’ amplified through mosque loudspeakers, followed by the violence.

Such accusations against two brothers from the Christian faith in Jaranwala, broadcast through mosque loudspeakers, incited the recent violence. Mobs armed with stones, sticks and daggers, including children armed with sticks, attacked and set ablaze churches, homes, and the office of the assistant commissioner of Jaranwala, a Christian, who was not on the premises at the time. They desecrated Bibles and vandalised a cemetery. 

As many as 36 “registered and nonregistered” churches and about 800 homes were vandalised and razed to the ground, displacing approximately 3,000 families including 200 children, says the Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation, set up by the family of late war hero, Group Captain Cecil Chaudhry of the Pakistan Air Force. The Foundation has appealed for donations of cash, cooked food, dry rations, and medicines.

This was not the first attack on Christian colonies, most of which are situated in prime land eyed by the land mafia. 

In 2009, eight Christians were killed and almost 50 houses torched in a largely Christian neighbourhood in Gojra in a pre-planned attack that the local administration was aware of, reports the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). 

In March 2013, mobs attacked the Joseph Colony area of Punjab’s capital Lahore, burning some 200 houses. The day before the attack, police asked the Christians to vacate their houses, reports the HRCP. 

There are numerous such incidents, with the culprits rarely brought to book. However, over the past few years, the government has begun to respond more effectively.

This time, police moved to arrest over 100 suspects and register cases against leaders of extremist groups Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and Jamaat-Ahle-Sunnat. 

Turning point

The turning point in how Pakistan deals with this issue may have been when a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot was lynched in 2021 after ‘blasphemy’ accusations. 

“This brought international focus to the issue, and the government of the day felt compelled to respond,” observes Zohra Yusuf, former HRCP Chairperson.

Plus, with the growing economic crisis and as a signatory to various human rights conventions, Pakistan must align its laws with these international treaties in order to retain its GSP+ status with the European Union, she says, talking to Sapan News from Karachi.

The status, reviewed annually, is up for renewal this year.

There was also the Supreme Court’s landmark judgement of 2014 by Justice Tasadduq Jilani, taking suo motu notice of churches torched in Peshawar. The decision called for protection of minorities and freedom of religion. However, many of his recommendations have yet to be implemented, notes Yusuf.

Vigilante violence

While Pakistan has never executed anyone for ‘blasphemy’, vigilante violence has claimed nearly 90 lives of ‘blasphemy’ accused individuals. 

Victims include Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer who took up cudgels on behalf of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death for ‘blasphemy’ in 2010. 

Taseer’s bodyguard assassinated him in January 2011 and was later executed for murder. Aasia Bibi spent nearly a decade on death row. Acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2018, she was forced into hiding and is now in Canada. 

The weaponisation of the ‘blasphemy laws’ has increased, with government and state agencies striking deals with extremist groups, say analysts. In a scathing judgement, Chief Justice-designate Qazi Faez Isa of the Pakistan Supreme Court noted the role of army personnel and private entities in enabling the rise and mainstreaming of extremist groups. He is among the few officials to have visited Jaranwala.

Pakistan’s religious minorities face a backlash when something injures the “religious sentiments” of Muslims. Even cross-border love has repercussions. When Seema Haider, a Pakistani Muslim woman went to India to marry a Hindu man she met online, Pakistan’s Hindu community faced threats and attacks, including grenades thrown at Hindu temples as reports of her change of religion surfaced. 

“No Church or a Christian will remain safe in Pakistan,” threatened the extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi after an Iraqi refugee desecrated the holy Quran in Sweden. 

“There’s an atrocity in Sweden, and our cross is desecrated here,” lamented Pastor Ghazala, an organiser of the Minority Rights March, talking to the BBC. “Why are you turning Pakistan into another India? Why do you want Manipur violence to be repeated here?”

Senior journalist Jyoti Punwani in Mumbai appreciates the “strong condemnation of the violence against Christians in Pakistan from the heads of all the institutions that matter: the political, the religious and the army,” as well as the inquiry that has been started and promises to restore the churches. “These promises are credible, because in the past, vandalised temples have been rebuilt,” she tells Sapan News. 

Pakistan’s responses are “all the more remarkable” because of their contrast to how India’s ruling establishment has responded to communal violence by the majority over the last 9 years, says Punwani. “And we are officially secular! These responses make us ashamed.”

On Sunday, 20 August, members of Hindu right-wing groups barged into a church in New Delhi to stop what they termed a ‘conversion’ service. They tore up Bibles and physically attacked members of the congregation. Many more gathered at the police station where the pastor and church members went to register a case, reports The Wire.

One of the reasons that Pakistan is making an effort to deal more appropriately with such cases is that it “wants to show itself in a better light than India,” comments Zohra Yusuf, talking to Sapan News. 

That is not a bad competition to be in.

Indigenous

The Minority Rights March last week included theatre, music and dancing. A troupe from Thar, in colourful traditional costumes signifying the cultural diversity of Pakistan, danced the ‘dandiya’, clashing sticks to the beat of drums and music lyrics. As the rhythmic beat of the popular Dama Dam Mast Qalandar’ sung by folk artiste Shamo Bai faded, participants jumped in front of the stage to dance.

A tableau by young girls depicted the “conversion factory” targeting Hindu girls in Sindh. Some reports estimate the figure of young Hindu girls, some barely 13 or 14 being forcibly converted to be around 1000 annually. There was some relief when the Sindh Assembly passed an Anti-Conversion law in November 2016, but the Standing Committee of Religious Affairs overturned it in 2021.

Sanitary workers in Pakistan, mostly Hindu and Christian, risk their lives daily, working in unsafe conditions. They are forced to enter sewage holes “with zero equipment,” says Chaudhry Waris, who represents the sanitary workers of Union District East Karachi.

The resulting, preventable tragedies are all too common. On May 7th, a Dalit Christian, Babar Masih, 31, drowned in a sewer in Karachi’s upscale Clifton area near the three swords monument, his body retrieved after 13 days. In June, two brothers died in the same way in another part of the city. 

The Minority Rights March demands included revision of the curriculum that currently promotes “unhinged bigotry” to quote Dr Vinesh Arya, a religion educationist. It “pits one community against another.” 

“At least six sanitation workers, all Christian, have died within the last year after inhaling poisonous sewer gases in otherwise preventable workplace accidents across Pakistan. All were men who had families,” reports Al Jazeera.

The demonstrators also called for a revival of the Thar Express railway line between Karachi, Sindh, and Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Pakistan suspended the service in 2019. Pakistani Hindus now find it even more difficult to visit religious shrines or families across the border. Travel to India now entails a lengthy, expensive journey up-country to cross at the Wagah-Attari border.

With Pakistan still “very, very far”, as Nida Kirmani puts it, from realising the dream of a safe haven for its religious minorities, the activism of groups like Minority Rights March remains ever more relevant.

This is a Sapan News syndicated feature. 

Abdullah Zahid with Beena Sarwar

Abdullah Zahid is an aspiring journalist studying mass communication at the University of Karachi. On X @AbdullahZahid. Editor Sapan News Beena Sarwar is a longtime journalist who has extensively reported on the ‘blasphemy laws’.  beena@sapannews.com

The post Pakistan’s Minority Rights Activists Renew Demands for Justice After Attacks on Churches appeared first on Dissent Today.

The police had taken the employee of China Gezhouba Group Company into custody “to avert a serious situation” after enraged labourers gathered outside his office apparently with the intent of attacking him for alleged blasphemous remarks.

The engineer was accused of blasphemous remarks during a workplace dispute about the slow pace of work during Ramzan, the Islamic month of fasting, South China Morning Post reported.

People in protest also blocked the Karakoram Highway, the sole overland road connecting Pakistan to China, as the news of the engineer’s alleged blasphemy spread to neighbouring villages.

Police and paramilitary soldiers had to intervene to save the worker from the enraged mob and it took them four hours to disperse the crowd.

In December 2021, Sri Lankan man, Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana, working in Pakistan for 11 years was lynched by a mob over blasphemy allegations.

Kumara was beaten, killed and later set on fire by a mob in Sialkot. An Anti-Terrorism Court awarded death sentences to six convicts.

Blasphemy law is often misused in Pakistan to settle personal disputes.

News Desk

dissenttoday.net

The post Chinese Engineer Arrested In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Over Blasphemy Allegations appeared first on Dissent Today.

After blasphemy-convict Junaid Hafeez’s appeal against his death sentence was finally fixed before the Lahore High Court (LHC) earlier this month, his new lawyer, Saif ul Malook, appears to be mishandling the case, Dissent Today has learnt.

Hafeez, a progressive academic who served as a lecturer at the English Literature department of Bahauddin Zakariya University in Multan, has been in solitary confinement since 2013 after he was arrested on allegations of blasphemy. In 2019, a trial court in Multan convicted him of blasphemy, sentencing him to death, in a verdict that was termed unfair by human rights groups.

Hafeez’s first counsel, Rashid Rehman, was gunned down in Multan in 2014 amid death threats and a hateful campaign against him by lawyers associated with Barelvi extremist groups.

Differences between Hafeez’s lawyers

During the first hearing of the appeal against the death sentence on April 5, Malook asked the judges to adjourn it because he was “not prepared” and wanted to first meet his client in prison. However, Hafeez’s lead counsel, Asad Jamal, who has been representing him since 2014 after Rahman’s murder, insisted that the hearing should continue as he was prepared to argue.

When one of the judges asked why the case was shifted to Lahore from Multan, Jamal responded that he had petitioned for the case’s transfer to Lahore due to its peculiar history. Before the judge could say anything, Malook interjected, bringing up the murder of the previous counsel, Rahman.

According to Jamal, Malook’s mention of Rahman’s murder had had an “adverse impact” on the judges. “Judges are likely not to hear such a case in which there is so much at stake – including their lives. Mention a murder in a blasphemy appeal and the result is most likely postponement and no relief,” he told Dissent Today, adding that he wanted some progress during the first hearing because the appeal had reached the high court after more than three years.

Jamal briefly presented his arguments before he was asked by Justice Farooq Haider about a specific document from the case file. “It took me 10-15 seconds to locate the document from the case files, because of which the judge told me even I was not prepared, and postponed the hearing.”

The tone set by Malook, at the start of the hearing, Jamal believes, left a negative impression on the judges.

Surprisingly, both lawyers have not discussed the case with each other so far, and are clearly not on the same page. Jamal claims he reached out to Malook before the hearing, asking what their strategy would be, but the latter did not respond.

Saif ul Malook did not respond to Dissent Today’s request for comment.

Extremist groups back in action

Meanwhile, the lawyers who were involved in the campaign against Rashid Rehman prior to his murder have once again become active in the Junaid Hafeez case.

Advocate Zulfiqar Sidhu, who led the campaign against Rashid Rehman ahead of his murder, is an influential lawyer and was made assistant advocate general during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government in 2018. He recently submitted his power of attorney on behalf of a witness against Junaid Hafeez who was an associate professor in Agronomy at the university. Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, who is the president of Khatm-e-Nabuwwat Lawyers Forum (a group that voluntarily prosecutes blasphemy-accused and assists anyone filing a blasphemy case), also recently joined hands with Sidhu and will be contesting Junaid Hafeez’s appeal against the death sentence.

Jamal terms Malook’s act of building “unnecessary hype” around the case as the reason for their renewed interest.

Saif ul Malook’s entry into the scene

On March 12 last year, Malook announced on Twitter that he met Junaid Hafeez and would be representing him in his appeal against the death sentence. But Junaid Hafeez had not
signed the power of attorney for Malook then, as it was signed on March 26, 2022.

Met Junaid Hafeez in central prison Multan today a death convict on blasphemy allegations. He is in good health and spirits. He appointed me his lawyer for his appeal in Lahore High Court.

— Saif-ul-malook (@Saifulm32731039) March 12, 2022

According to sources, Junaid Hafeez had initially declined Malook’s offer to represent him during their first meeting in Multan jail, but Malook made the announcement on Twitter anyway. It was 14 days after Malook’s tweet that Hafeez signed his power of attorney (a copy of which is available with Dissent Today), reportedly when Hafeez’s father convinced him to do so.

Sources further reveal that Malook had first tried to convince Hafeez to give him the power of attorney in January of 2020, but he had declined then too. Malook then held meetings with Hafeez’s father in Multan, who eventually convinced Hafeez to let Malook represent him.

‘Hearing may be further delayed’

Although the hearing has now been postponed till May 29, Jamal anticipates further delay because the judges were not clear. “Had the case been at least partially heard on April 5 instead of being postponed, it would have been fixed the week after,” he says.

Aside from the postponement of the hearing, Jamal also disagrees with Malook’s use of social media to release information about the case, given its precarious history and the involvement of extremist groups. Malook had tweeted about the April 5 hearing a day prior.

“Given the sensitivity around blasphemy laws, lawyers releasing such information in advance of the hearings is counterproductive,” Jamal says.

Loopholes in trial

Hafeez’s trial leading to his conviction and death sentence was marred by several loopholes, none of which have been duly addressed. During the trial between 2013 and 2019, seven judges hearing the case were transferred or distanced themselves from the case, raising questions on the fairness of the trial.

Hafeez’s first counsel, Rashid Rehman, was gunned down in Multan in 2014 amid a hateful campaign including direct death threats against him by lawyers associated with Barelvi extremist groups. His murder alone was enough to hamper a fair trial, as the extremist groups and lawyers allegedly behind the incident wield significant influence in Multan, where the case was being heard.

The extremist campaign initiated against Rehman continued even after his murder. On May 8, 2014, a day after his murder, unsigned pamphlets were distributed in Multan, saying Rehman met his ‘rightful end’ for trying to save someone who ‘disrespected’ Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). “We warn all lawyers to be afraid of God and think twice before engaging in such acts,” the pamphlet had said.

This series of events, among others, explains why Junaid Hafeez was convicted and given the death sentence despite the prosecution not having a strong case against him. Earlier during the trial, there were times when it appeared that the case against Hafeez would be thrown out due to serious discrepancies in the prosecution’s version.

In December 2014, seven months after Rehman’s murder, Shahbaz Paracha, a judge who was hearing the case, had told defense counsel Jamal that he wanted to adjudicate the case without delay. “Hafeez specially sent a message asking me to attend the hearing on Dec. 13, 2014, but I was not prepared to cross-examine the witness then. I informed the judge that since I didn’t have the complete case file, I would not be able to cross examine the witness. He told me to read the court file instead,” Jamal says.

“The judge had told me to return to the court in two days, and when I sought more time to prepare the case, he said he could grant me time till the 17th. ‘Return to the court on the 17th. I want to decide the case,’ the judge had said, as he looked me in the eye.”

Jamal says he could see that the judge had realized that the case was baseless, and that he had to somehow clean the stigma of Rashid Rehman’s murder. It was in his court that Rehman had been threatened with dire consequences if he continued to represent Hafeez.
“I knew that judge Paracha was going to acquit Junaid Hafeez sooner than later,” Jamal says.

But two days ahead of the hearing on December 17, 2014 – when Hafeez’s acquittal was likely – the judge was transferred to Faisalabad and the case was delayed. According to the defence counsel, all judges who showed their inclination to acquit Hafeez were transferred. Seven judges were transferred between December 2014 and December 2019 when the verdict was delivered. The trial was delayed due to the transfers as well as non-appearance of witnesses.

What exactly is the case against Junaid Hafeez?

The initial complaint against Junaid Hafeez as recorded in the FIR had stated that he was the admin of a secret Facebook group called “So-called Liberals of Pakistan” and was guilty of blasphemy because he did not delete a blasphemous post shared in the group by an unidentified user “Mullah Munafiq”. But according to the prosecution’s evidence submitted in the form of printed Facebook posts, the secret FB group as well as the alleged account by Hafeez’s name had continued to be operated even after Hafeez’s arrest on March 13, 2013, indicating that he was neither in control nor operating them.

About 6 months after Hafeez was arrested, the prosecution brought on court record new witnesses who claimed to have seen Hafeez commit blasphemy while addressing a launch ceremony of a British-Pakistani author Qasra Shahraz’s two books about women’s status in society. The complaint also stated that said books contained blasphemous content, and were an attempt to “provoke women against Islam”. But during the cross examination when the prosecution’s witness, a student at BZU, was asked by defense counsel Asad Jamal about the contents of the book, it emerged that he could not properly read English. He then changed his statement, and said he was “informed” by some other students that the books were blasphemous.

‘Misogyny at the heart of conspiracy against Hafeez’

The blasphemy case against Hafeez, Asad Jamal says, was part of a conspiracy hatched by a group at Bahauddin Zakariya University and was originally meant to simultaneously target the head of the department, Shirin Zubair, but she survived the vicious attack due to her status and connections.

Professor Shirin Zubair, head of the university’s English language and literature department, was a candidate in the varsity’s syndicate elections in 2013. Had she won the elections, she would have had a better chance to later become the Vice Chancellor of the university where she had served for almost 30 years – something a group of male faculty members, who were opposed to her promotion because of her gender and her liberal worldview, did not want.

“Since Shirin Zubair reposed trust in Hafeez because of his academic excellence, the group that wanted to get rid of her thought she could be intimidated into stepping aside with such a campaign against him,” Asad Jamal told Dissent Today.

Following the blasphemy complaint against Hafeez, Shireen withdrew her candidature and eventually left the country. Those who hatched the conspiracy to keep a woman from reaching the post of Vice Chancellor were successful.

The defense counsel had in 2015 tried to get Shireen to appear as a witness for Junaid Hafeez, but she was not willing to come forward due to security concerns.

‘Students who accused Hafeez of blasphemy were never in his classes’

The original complainants in the case were two BZU students of English department Rana Akbar and Muhammad Rafique, who had graduated and left the university in 2012. But the complaint was registered in the name of a police sub-inspector. Later on, Professor Hakoomat Ali, a faculty member of the Agronomy department along with a group of four students of Islamic Studies and Physics departments, also became witnesses.

Interestingly, none of the five students who appeared as witnesses against Junaid Hafeez had ever been his students. Four of them studied at different departments, while one of them was from the English department, but had never taken a class with Hafeez or been his class fellow. In his cross-examination, he had told the court that he had never seen Hafeez utter anything blasphemous. But he went on to claim that Hafeez was running a “blasphemous campaign of liberal views” in his classes and on social media. On further questioning, he had informed the court that he was neither connected with Hafeez as a friend on Facebook nor was he a member of the secret group, but still “knew” that Hafeez was operating it.

Ailia Zehra

The writer is a journalist and the Founding Editor of Dissent Today. She covers politics, human rights, and religious extremism. She tweets at @AiliaZehra.

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