The move endorses the persecution of Christians, who are the main targets of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, and will intensify that persecution. Such laws ensure that Christians remain an inferior class in Pakistani society. Whenever a Muslim accuses a Christian of blasphemy, the accused is persecuted by the state and hunted by mobs. Yet many of the accusations are false and are merely acts of vengeance in disputes.
In the most recent deadly incident, Muslims set fire to a total of 21 churches and 40 Christian homes on accusations of Qur’an desecration by a Christian man. Where is the global uproar?
Meanwhile, a well-meaning archbishop, Joseph Arshad of the Islamabad-Rawalpindi Diocese, believes that the targeting of Christians and minorities “can only be prevented by improving education.” He’s thus promoting intercultural dialogue. Yet the 1,400-year history of Islamic conquest has nothing to do with lack of education, and Arshad must know this. The conquests had everything to do with Islamic supremacism.
The Pakistani government, in increasing the punishment for blasphemy, is acting in the same spirit. Although arrests were made in the recent mob violence and targeting of a entire Christian community in Jaranwala, Faisalabad, over accusations of one man desecrating a Qur’an, Pakistan is emboldening such attacks by strengthening its blasphemy laws. It follows that any adequate follow-up by Pakistani authorities against those rioters who have been arrested is also questionable.
“Pakistan: 2 bills increasing punishments for blasphemy,” by Anugrah Kumar, Christian Post, August 15, 2023:
Two bills passed by Pakistan’s Legislature have raised concerns among Christian and civil society groups. The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023 increases punishment for blasphemy offenses, while the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023 fails to adequately safeguard minority rights.
The Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023, passed in Pakistan’s Senate this month, increases the punishment for insulting the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s companions, wives and family members from three years to life imprisonment, and says it must not be less than 10 years, the U.K.-based group Christian Solidarity Worldwide said in a statement.
The National Assembly approved the legislation in January 2023, and civil society and minority communities in Pakistan warned that it could fuel rights abuses and target religious minorities, the group explained.
On the same day, CSW added, the National Assembly passed the National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023.
Civil society groups in Pakistan assert that the bill’s provisions are inconsistent with the U.N. Paris Principles and fall short of meeting the directives of the Pakistan Supreme Court judgment of June 19, 2014. The bill was also criticized for not creating a truly functional institution to safeguard minority rights.
“Making the blasphemy laws more stringent could inflame the situation further,” CSW’s Founder President Mervyn Thomas said. “The National Commission for Minorities Bill 2023 is a missed opportunity to enact legislation that safeguards the rights of religious minorities in Pakistan.”
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws criminalize anyone who insults Islam, carrying either the death penalty or life imprisonment. These laws are often used as a weapon of revenge to settle personal scores or disputes over money, property or business…..
Fitna says
Imagine if some morons decided to start calling Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden a ‘prophet’ and made it a crime to insult him, his family, the religion they invented and the followers. This is exactly what happened with Mohammad.
Would any sane/rational person then bow down to this ideology? Would we have Leftists censoring people and calling for their firing/removal for criticizing this death cult?
Yet this is exactly the situation we find ourselves in today. If you give in to these lunatics, the world they will bring to your land will be far worse than you can imagine and yet all over the West we see leaders, judges, politicians giving in to their demands.
As bad as the Nazis were and they were evil and terrible people, at least they didn’t want to drag humanity to the Dark Ages, force women to live under bin bags, have blasphemy laws, and so on.
Islam is far worse than Nazism and it’s the greatest evil on this planet that has been around for a lot longer too, 1400 years.
The only solution for Islam at least in the West is to declare that it is a criminal and seditious ideology which is in opposition to all the values we hold dear. It must be banned/criminalized and Muslims who refuse to leave Islam must leave the country.
Frankly I think at some point, given the violent nature of this ideology, some terrorist group will take over Pakistan and threaten and might actual nuke infidel countries. Muslims are and never will be at peace till the world is Islamic and even then the need to find and attack enemies will never end.
We’ll probably be forced to wage war against Islamic countries at some point but at the very least we need to free ourselves first.
Gandalfs Trouserpress says
Couldn’t agree more yet the West is blind and deaf to these events and the history of Islamic conquest and subjugation. If I send an emial or talk to someone they are not interested in the slightest – probably out of fear of emerging from their delusional state.