Who will be answerable?

 

Asia Bibi’s acquittal is a mighty courageous verdict from the current Chief Justice of Pakistan Saqib Nisar and future Chief Justice Saeed Khosa.

Nine long years in prison for Asia Bibi and lives of Salman Taseer and Shahbaz Bhatti was the price paid to arrive at this bold acquittal. And if these incidents were not enough we witnessed Mashal Khan, artist Qutub Rind and other innocent fellow Pakistanis murdered in the name of religious transgressions.

I wonder who will come forward to rescue those hundreds of people languishing in jails facing similar false allegations. How will this anomaly be resolved? Who will raise the issues, who will participate in the debate and who will provide answers and contribute to solutions?

Salman Taseer once took the courage to challenge the injustice and became a victim of a cold-blooded, revered and celebrated murder. He raised the question of the need for revisions in the blasphemy law so people may not misuse it for their vested interests and to suppress fellow Muslims and minorities alike and blackmail them.

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Upon reading the whole judgement, it is clear that this was a case of personal enmity but who will question the judges of the Lahore High Court, who upheld the conviction and death sentence of Asia Bibi? Will they answer for the nine years Asia Bibi spent in prison without her family and children?

What reasoning did they offer, who were they afraid of, and why did they not question the law to be contrary to Islamic principles? I wonder what harm a lady like Asia Bibi can give to their religion. I don’t say ‘my’ religion because the Islam I follow teaches me the opposite of what these people believe. My beloved Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) emphasised on respect of non-Muslims and categorically said that:

“I will fight their case (minorities) on the day of judgment in front of almighty against those who hurt them and create trouble for them” (Abu Dawud).

It is high time that we inspect the blasphemy law in the light of religion. Most Muslims in the subcontinent follow Imam Abu Hanifa and according to him, blasphemy is not a crime itself and there is nothing mentioned about its punishment in Quran and Hadith. But because it hurts the feelings of people who follow our beloved Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) so Ta’zir (punishment) can be decided according to the seriousness of the misconduct and stubbornness of the delinquent.

No one says that there shouldn’t be any law to deal with sacrilege, it’s just that our religion hasn’t recommended any punishments. It is upon the state or people who should try to tell that person that his action is not right, listen to his point of view, give them a chance to apologise and, after all these steps if he still continues to transgress, there can be a punishment pronounced by the State (death penalty being a possibility if the alleged person is a Muslim and because of his transgression, he becomes an apostate or if the action comes under the definition of fasad fil arz).

But here some of our religious clerics insist that there is no place for apology, justification, clarification, repentance, or correction. There is just death for the person who has been alleged of blasphemy even if they insist that they didn’t do it, that they couldn’t even think of doing such an act.

In civilised societies and Islamic tradition, aalims (teachers) are the people who educate their students and followers and tell them about patience, respecting difference of opinion, and use of good language during debate and argument. But here this is not the case. In our part of the world, some religious clerics are the ones encouraging their students/followers not to obey and respect the rule of law, destroy everyone who dares to differ, issue fatwas, declare people kafir and maloon at their free will!

The current state of our cities is appalling. Is this what our religion has thought us? Is this what Rehmat-ul-Lil Alameen (Peace Be Upon Him) preached and practiced? Abuse, road blockage, inciting violence, destroying public property, challenging the writ of state? That too in the name of religious duty? Aren’t these exactly opposite to basic Islamic principles?

The author has a background in communication studies and works on media analysis

Note: The views expressed are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Geo News or the Jang Group.