If someone is accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, all too often he or she is brutalized or killed before any trial is held. Or even if acquitted, as in this case, the accused person is targeted by a Muslim mob that enforces the Sharia death penalty for blasphemy by a vigilante action. This is a human rights issue of massive proportions, and yet the “world human rights community” seems decidedly uninterested in calling upon Pakistan to repeal its blasphemy laws and combat blasphemy vigilantism.
“Pak man gunned down despite being acquitted in blasphemy case,” from the Press Trust of India, March 22:
A Pakistani man, who was recently acquitted in a blasphemy case, was gunned down in Jehlum district of Punjab province.
Sharafat Gola told police that his brother – Ashraf Gola, a former chairman of a district council – was travelling along with a friend Iftikhar Ahmed in a car when unidentified men intercepted it near Pind Dadan Khan, some 250 kilometres from Lahore, and sprayed it with bullets leaving both dead.
Sharafat said his brother was recently acquitted in a blasphemy case but those pursuing it had threatened him of dire consequences.
The district and sessions judge had acquitted Ashraf as nothing was established against him.
Police have registered a case against the unidentified killers.
The incident highlights how blasphemy accused are not safe in Pakistan even after being acquitted.
Earlier, another blasphemy accused had been shot dead after he secured bail in Punjab.
Human rights groups have alleged that Pakistan’s blasphemy law is often misused to settle personal scores and grudges.
No kidding, really?
Jay Boo says
Muslims criticizing blasphemy
How perversely ironic
Saturdays are dangerous because Muslims are still stinking from the self-righteous imams and Quran inspired Friday prayers.
Huck Folder says
Never fear, CAIR is on the case, along with AI and HRW.
CogitoErgoSum says
Meanwhile, Asia Bibi still languishes in prison….awaiting what?
http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=24385
Defcon 4 says
So does a Christian pastor/ islamic apostate in the Iranian Islamic “republic”.
gravenimage says
Pakistan: Acquitted of blasphemy, gunned down anyway
………………………….
If the Islamic state is not “sufficiently Islamic”, then the bloody Ummah will finish the job.
It’s hard to know for sure, but from his name, the victim was probably Muslim himself. He may have been a lax Muslim or secret apostate; more likely, though, he was just accused out of some personal animus.
But under full Shari’ah, it does not matter. Just an accusation of having committed “blasphemy”, or having committed “adultery” is often a death sentence.
God, I hate Islam.
helmut says
I want to hate islam and express that proudly too. But, alas, every time I do, someone brow beats me, telling me that I am being intolerant and ill informed about the truth of the Koranic wisdom. What the hell is a person to do?
Salah says
“What the hell is a person to do?”
Respond with a few Koranic intolerant verses:
http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2010/05/accursed-book-le-livre-maudit.html
Davegreybeard says
But then, it’s not really the blasphemy LAW that’s the problem.
It’s the human tendency to take pleasure in self righteous violence against others and the convenient justification that Islam provides for such actions.
Isabellathecrusader says
And rewarding that self righteous behavior with special protections and privileges, like the establishment of Sharia as a parallel legal system in the UK or Congressman Gerry Connolly re-leasing the Islamic Saudi Academy even though the tenants had not kept their maintenance agreement or paid all their rent, in return for campaign money to get him elected and now, re-elected.
gravenimage says
Good to see you posting, Isabella.
Defcon 4 says
Blasphemy laws are always problematic, that is, if you believe in concepts like freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
tpellow says
The BBC has chosen not report this Islamic murder of an innocent man in Pakistan; but it has chosen to report that ‘OK magazine’ is to be launched in Pakistan soon.
pdxnag says
I still think there is substantial symmetry between calling someone a blasphemer and an Islamophobe, with precisely the same desired outcome, enforced either by the state or a mob. It becomes a death threat, even if only postponed in the west until the Muslim population increases. The intent in making the threat, the guilty mind (mens rea), is wholly indistinguishable.
Bab El says
What the heck is wrong with those signs they dont seem to fit the situation and people? There doesnt seem to be a history when christians were allowed to practise their religion in Pakistan.
richard Sherman says
When you revere the SOCIOPATH MUHAMMAD WHO PERSONALLY DECAPITATED 900 Jews…like Obama does..
This is what you get: sharia…
Defcon 4 says
There was a Pakistani Christian pastor who was locked up in Pakistan after being charged with blasphemy. Unfortunately, he disappeared from Pakistaini police custody before he was even tried and was never seen again. This all happened within the last six years.