A Day in the Life of a Christian – Under Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws When, exactly, will the protests in the West begin? by Uzay Bulut
https://www.frontpagemag.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-christian-under-pakistans-blasphemy-laws/
In Pakistan, blasphemy laws carry a death sentence. These notorious statutes are often used abusively for settling personal scores, making personal gains or for satisfying grudges that one neighbor may have against another.
The country’s blasphemy laws are also used to target minority groups, and Christians are disproportionately affected. Indeed, roughly a quarter of all blasphemy accusations target Christians. Business rivals accuse Christian men of blasphemy as a means of destroying their business and reputation.
In 2020, a Christian man was sentenced to death for having allegedly sent “blasphemous” text messages to his former supervisor. He has been held in custody since 2013.
While the death sentence is seldom carried out, people accused of blasphemy are vulnerable to attack or murder by rampaging Muslim mobs. In June 2024, for instance, an elderly man was killed by mob violence after being accused of desecrating the Quran.
In its 2024 report, the human rights organization Open Doors found that anti-Christian violence in Pakistan has been at the maximum possible level for many years. Violence against Christians does not only include widely publicized attacks against the Christian community, such as in the city of Jaranwala in August 2023, but also small scale, localized, and increasingly persistent killings and attacks on Christians and churches, often spurred on by the country’s notorious blasphemy laws, which have been expanded in scope and punishment.
Christians in Pakistan are more frequently arrested and charged than acquitted, and although not all situations are linked with blasphemy accusations, those are the most prominent examples.
In 2023, Pakistan’s National Assembly passed legislation that increased punishment for some forms of blasphemy by raising the penalties from three years to no fewer than 10 years for insulting the companions, wives, and family members of Islam’s founder, Muhammad. The widening of the scope of blasphemy laws and the increase in penalties on conviction demonstrate the level of importance politics and society attach to this topic.
All of this, in turn, is further encouraging vigilante attacks on Christians. In the Jaranwala incident, after false blasphemy allegations were made against two Christians, up to 26 churches were burned or damaged and hundreds of Christians fled their homes.
In 2024, a court in Punjab sentenced a 22-year-old student to death on charges of sharing “blasphemous” pictures and videos. A 17-year-old student was sentenced to life imprisonment in the same case only because Pakistani law prohibits the death sentence for child offenders.
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan adopted an Islamic Constitution in 1973 and Sharia law in its civil code, even though Article 20 grants freedom of religion and belief. Ex-Prime Minister Imran Khan (ousted in April 2022 but whose party has growing influence) stated that the government system in place in the days of Islam’s prophet Mohammed should be seen as the perfect governing system for Pakistan.
General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq introduced infamous laws on blasphemy in 1986. Shortly after that, blasphemy became one of the main issues thaht the Christian and Hindu minorities in the country had to face.
On January 13, 2025, the Christian Daily International-Morning Star News reported that an Islamist gang trapped more than 450 people on false blasphemy charges in recent years in Pakistan, including five who were tortured to death in custody, according to human rights lawyers.
The “blasphemy business group” has devastated numerous families with the collusion of federal investigators, said attorneys Usman Warraich, Imaan Hazir-Mazari and Rana Abdul Hameed at a press conference on January 10 in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
The Islamist group shares blasphemous content online and then files false charges, blackmailing the families of those accused for large sums of money, the attorneys said. They cited a report by the Special Branch of the Punjab Police last year that pinpointed an organized gang behind the recent surge in blasphemy cases.
Five Muslims, including a 22-year-old woman, Fatima Jahangir, were subjected to inhumane torture that ultimately led to their tragic deaths, Warraich said.
“An orphan boy named Syed Ali Hasnain was killed in Adiala Jail. A young man from Rawalpindi, Syed Abdullah Shah, was tortured and murdered by this group in collaboration with the FIA,” Warraich added. “Fatima Jahangir died in Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore, while another 22-year-old boy, Safeer Ullah, lost his life in Camp Jail, Lahore.”
Another youth named Suhan Khan was tortured to death in Karachi Central Jail within three to four days, he noted, adding that Islamist gangs publicly celebrate whenever a court denies bail or convicts a victim.
“Celebrations include distributing sweets, garlanding members, and gifting swords to each other, and the videos are widely circulated on social media,” the attorney stated. “They also share the names and addresses of the victim families and their lawyers on social media to intimidate them.”
After courts convict the victims, Islamic leaders make announcements against them in the mosques of their respective neighborhoods to incite local residents against their families. During proceedings, Islamist groups harass the victims’ families and shout slogans in the courtroom to pressure judges to convict the innocent, he added.
“We have brought this matter to the attention of the president’s office, prime minister’s office, chief justice of Pakistan, Cabinet Division, Director General FIA, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Law and Justice and leadership of all mainstream political parties, but none of them has taken any action yet,” the lawyers said.
Pakistan ranks seventh on Open Doors’ 2024 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian:
“Christians avoid talking about their faith with Muslims because blasphemy laws can mean dangerous consequences.
“It is dangerous for Pakistani Christians to keep Christian materials beyond their immediate personal use as they could be suspected of evangelizing Muslims. Displaying a Christian symbol or having a Christian name can trigger discrimination or vandalism of property. Reports of Christians wearing a cross, being spat at or targeted aggressively in the street, in traffic or at a workplace, are indicators that the situation is becoming more difficult.”
Some of the 2024 cases and rights abuses related to blasphemy charges include the following:
*A Christian mother of four children was sentenced to death for blasphemy, having forwarded content on a WhatsApp group that was considered disrespectful to Islam’s Prophet Mohammed.
*An 18-year-old student was arrested after being accused of blasphemy by a former classmate. On March 14, the court ordered his release on bail.
*A court in Bahawalnagar acquitted a man of blasphemy charges on the grounds of double jeopardy. Nevertheless, he remains on death row for his conviction in the first blasphemy case.
*A 72-year-old Christian from the Jaranwala area, in Punjab province’s Faisalabad district, was accused of blasphemy and arrested.
*A 56-year-old man was sentenced to life-imprisonment for committing blasphemy by a court in Lahore.
Open Doors reports:
“It has been risky for Christians to reveal their faith in written forms of personal expression (including expressions in blogs and Facebook etc.). It is dangerous when the written content is seen as opposing or challenging the established teachings and values of Islam. All personal statements ‒ for instance on Facebook ‒ can also be used (and tampered with) in cases concerning the blasphemy law. The authorities and pressure groups are watching the Internet and social media closely, especially for blasphemous content. Because of the fear of misinterpretation and attacks, whether virtual or physical, many Christians avoid expressing their faith by exercising self-censorship.
“False imprisonment is one of the biggest areas especially relating to false accusations of blasphemy/apostacy, in these instances entire families and communities are impacted.”
Those who caused harm to Christians have deliberately been left unpunished, Open Doors notes.
One of the most concerning trends in recent years has been that vigilante attacks on suspected blasphemers are not only being tolerated but actually celebrated.
One such case was of a Muslim accused of blasphemy who was killed by a policeman in what the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan referred to as an “extra-judicial killing.” This was the second such case in a single week. In the other case, the family of the victim said they “forgave the policeman who had killed their relative as indeed it was wrong to blaspheme.” This impunity is clearly seen in the case of persecution of Christians by the fact that more than 90% of the suspects of the 2023 attack in Jaranwala are still at large.
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws continue to provide the structure for much of the human rights violations of Christians in Pakistan. Christians live in constant fear of blasphemy allegations, false charges, destruction of their property, arrest, imprisonment, beatings, torture, and execution. A 70-year-old Pakistani Catholic, Anwar Kenneth, for instance, has been on death row since his arrest on blasphemy charges in 2001.
Human rights groups, university students in Western countries, Pope Francis, and activists would be more than welcome to protest for the release and safety of Kenneth and many other victims of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Sadly, silence and indifference have been their only reactions.
Uzay Bulut is a Turkish journalist formerly based in Ankara.
Comments are closed.
