Mob justice

In the past 10 days we have witnessed two horrifying incidents of mob violence. In Gojra, several Pakistani Christians were killed and scores had their homes torched by a mob enraged over allegations of the desecration of Quranic text. In Muridke, a factory owner and another man were beaten and killed when a factory clerk accused the owner of having desecrated holy verses inscribed on a calendar. Here too it was an angry mob out to seek ‘revenge’.

A fact-finding mission by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan found that the unarmed police team present proved helpless against the wrath of the crowd. A third such incident was narrowly avoided in Sanghar on Friday when violent street protests broke out after a shopkeeper accused a woman of having desecrated the Quran. The woman says that in fact she had been settling her accounts with the shopkeeper and that she flung down his accounts book in fury at the inflated amount he claimed she owed. The shopkeeper disappeared after being asked to lodge an FIR, while police guards have been deployed at the woman’s house.

These incidents show the religious chauvinism and intolerance that is now rampant in the country. More importantly though, they illustrate how the ‘blasphemy law’ — Section 295-C of the criminal code — has become a means of inciting unbridled mob brutality, settling scores and victimising communities and individuals. The blasphemy law has become a means of uncontrollable persecution.

There is a need, of course, for the strict enforcement of law and order, as well as communal self-restraint: in both Gojra and Muridke, for example, mosque loudspeakers were used to spread word of the alleged desecration, and the police proved unable to protect the victims. However, it is also time that parliament revisited the law with a view to examining its intent and abuse. It must either be reframed so that it cannot be exploited or manipulated, or be revoked in its entirety. Laws that provide a pretext for mob justice and uncontrolled violence cannot be seen as beneficial to the interests of the country or its citizenry.

(Dawn)