In the past seven decades, vigilante attacks have taken the lives of more than 90 civilians. More than 1200 cases of blasphemy were recorded in the past decade alone. Mob lynching and blasphemy allegations have taken the lives of many innocent citizens in Pakistan. Who is behind all this extremism? Who is instigating the extremist groups into doing such acts in the name of honour and Islam? Why have the people taken the law into their hands?
Religious radicalism is the main driving force behind the lynchings in Pakistan. Parties like Tehreek-e-Labbaik are believed to be fueling such radicalism. The lynching of Srilankan national Priyantha Kumara Diyawadana is one of the most recent cases of honour killing on the allegation of blasphemy. The people rather than giving the accused a chance to defend themselves prefer to kill them right there and then which is atrocious. Like Sri Lankan, there was another famous case of Mashal Khan who was brutally murdered by hundreds of extremists on the same allegations of blasphemy. In fact his own class fellows were involved in that inhumane killing. Unfortunately, because of the religious association of this not many people come out and speak about it openly as it might put their lives in danger as well. These mobs and extremists are backed by some big political parties and that is why these groups are still present in many universities across Pakistan.
Taking law into our own hands is what wreaks this havoc. it's a universal law that every accused is innocent until proven guilty and the extremists should not be allowed to just kill the person right away. The accused should be charged and trialed in a court of law and not in the hands of the public. The government should be more sensitive towards this issue and should take strict action against these so-called Islamic right-wings.
An extremely relevant blog! In my opinion, all these blasphemous aspect is just a cause if brainwashing by the “Ulemas”. It is very unfortunate that almost all these type if Ulemas reside in Pakistan and have a huge following. The fake Pirs and Sufis have brainwashed the whole lower class. These ulemas take advantage of this uneducated poor class and instill hatred in them for the name of Islam. This brainwashing and hatred between sects was also done on Taliban. One can sincerely hope that in this time and age, we get more educated Ulemas so that our next generation get proper and true Islamic education.
Highly courageous of you Ahmed to bring into light such a critical issue, talking about blasphemy is just like "walking into the jaws of death". These jaws have been opened since the 1980's when the Military Dictator General Zia ul Haq updated a set of "colonial laws" that criminalized "insulting the religion of any class of person". Though he died in 1988, but his legacy still remains. Would highly recommend you to watch SWIPE and engage with Arafat Mazhar to engage with this issue in further detail.
You have raised a very critical issue, which provokes my thoughts of how we burned down our cities when certain comments were made against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in France. Similar, to that I feel the best way to respond is by educating the masses on how Prophet’s (PBUH) teachings are completely different than what we practice today. Educated responses based on logical reasoning can be used to counter argue such notions because that was the way of the one who we “supposedly” defend. Prophet (PBUH) and his companions were the best at dialogue since they were the most learned of the Quraish because of Islam. Killing people for false blasphemous cases makes us more intolerant than ever.