Pakistan tribunal: Time to change blasphemy law

In a stunning development suggesting further erosion of Pakistan's adherence to Islamic law, a single-judge tribunal has recommended a review of the nation's controversial blasphemy law.

It follows by only months a "landmark" decision by a court there that refused to affirm that criticizing the nation's Islamic anti-blasphemy law is itself illegal.

The decision came in the ever-expanding fallout of the case of Asia Bibi, a mother who was accused and convicted of blasphemy against Islam and sentenced to death for talking about her Christian faith.

The blasphemy law – and even the discussion of its validity – has cost numerous lives in a nation where the accused often are killed by vigilantes before the court system can resolve their cases.

At the time, the Pakistan Supreme Court said "criticizing the country's notoriously harsh blasphemy laws is not blasphemy," according to the Barnabas Fund, an organization that serves persecuted Christians worldwide.

"Persecuted: The Global Assault on Christians" provides documented accounts of attacks on Christians worldwide, and it tells of the perseverance and courage of men and women who suffer abuse because of their faith in Jesus Christ

Now the Barnabas Fund reports the new tribunal was set up to investigate the riots in Gojra in August 2009 that killed eight Christians.

The tribunal has recommended a review of the country's blasphemy law.

"The 325-page report, produced by a former Lahore High Court judge, highlights five provisions in the law relating to Islam which should be revisited both to prevent misuse and to ensure that it aligns with Article 25 of Pakistan's constitution, which stipulates the equality of all citizens," the Barnabas Fund said.

But the report noted that before going to parliament for approval, various schools of Islamic thought and the Council of Islamic Ideology will be consulted on the changes.

The report said that between July 28 and Aug. 1, 2009, a mob of more than 800 Muslims raided a Christian settlement in the town of Gojra in Pakistan's Punjab province. Approximately 60 houses were burnt down and eight Christians were killed, seven of whom were from one family.

Barnabas Fund said the attack was regarded as retribution for an alleged charge of blasphemy following gossip that a Quran had been burned during a wedding ceremony.

There still has been no justice for the Christian victims, the report said.

Barnabas Fund has documented a number of incidents in which "the blasphemy law – which for some types of blasphemy imposes a mandatory death penalty – is used as an excuse to attack not just the individuals alleged to have committed blasphemy but also the wider Christian community."

The report did note that, ultimately, significant changes aren't likely, because the nation's Shariah court supersedes the country's constitution.

There are about a dozen people on death row now for blasphemy in Pakistan.

Two years ago WND reported on the comments by the chief of a Christian organization in Pakistan that the nation's blasphemy laws, essentially, are a license to kill Christians.

The comments came from the president of the Pakistan Christian Congress, Nazir Bhatti, in a report by the Gatestone Institute's Mohshin Habib, who was looking at the fallout from the recently torture deaths of two Christians accused – but never convicted – of burning a page from the Quran.

That case, the deaths of Shama Bibi, 24, and her husband, Shahzad Masih, generated a backlash against Pakistan's tolerance for violence against those even suspected of "blasphemy," which protects Islam but not other faiths.

A spokesman for the family of the two victims – their unborn child also was killed – said they were accused of blasphemy and hid. But mobs of Muslims found them and tore apart the room where they had taken refuge.

"The mob beat them and broke their legs so they would not be able to flee," the Gatestone report said. "They were then held over an open kiln until their clothes caught fire."

Then they were thrown inside a furnace, according to Javed Maseeh, a spokesman for the family.

The report said someone had accused them of burning a page of the Quran.