Islamabad, Nov 2 (IANS) :Blasphemy laws in Pakistan expose religious minorities to prosecution, where a religious accusation can rapidly move from allegations to arrest, a death sentence or mob violence. For people from the Christian, Hindu and Ahmadiyya communities living in Pakistan, the danger is not merely confined to extremists doing activities outside the law, a report has detailed. The legal framework in Pakistan includes provisions that criminalise religious expression and restrict how a community can identify and practice its faith in the case of the Ahmadiyya community. Under Pakistan’s constitution, Islam has been named as the state religion, while its penal code includes some of the world’s most severe blasphemy provisions. The blasphemy cases of Christians, Hindus and Ahmadis expose how accusations can lead from allegations to arrest, imprisonment, death sentences or mob violence, a report in UK-based newspaper ‘The Asian Lite’ detailed.
“The country has not carried out a state execution specifically for blasphemy, but those accused can remain imprisoned for years, sometimes on death row. The legal framework extends beyond conventional blasphemy provisions. Pakistan’s laws also impose specific restrictions on Ahmadis, including prohibitions on presenting themselves as Muslims or describing their places of worship as mosques. The result is a system in which religious identity itself can become legally consequential,” Sakariya Kareem wrote in ‘The Asian Lite’. In 2016, a Christian teenager Nabeel Masih was arrested after he was accused of sharing alleged blasphemous content on social media platform Facebook and remained in prison until 2021. In 2017, a Christian man Nadeem James was detained after he forwarded alleged blasphemous material with a friend and was sentenced to death under blasphemy provisions, the report mentioned. Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, remained in prison for almost a decade after she was convicted and sentenced to death under blasphemy laws in Pakistan.
She was released after Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned his conviction in 2018 and eventually left Pakistan and sought asylum in Canada. In 2021, Ahmadi community leaders said that 61 people from the Ahmadiyya community were charged under blasphemy laws in Pakistan since 2019, according to the report.
The blasphemy provisions in Pakistan have been misused in cases related to personal disputes, property conflicts and social hostility. In 2022, Hindu teacher Notan Lal was sentenced to life imprisonment after a student accused him of insulting Prophet Muhammad. Later, the student admitted that he made false allegations after the teacher had reprimanded him. “Over the past decade, the record of Pakistan’s blasphemy cases — from Nabeel Masih and Nadeem James to Asia Bibi, Notan Lal, Ashfaq Masih, Jaranwala and the cases still emerging in 2026 — shows the human consequences when religious accusation acquires the force of criminal law,” Kareem wrote in ‘The Asian Lite’. In October, a Christian man’s house and shop were set ablaze by a Muslim mob in Pakistan’s Punjab province after he was accused of blasphemy. Subsequently, over 35 Christian families were forced to leave their homes amid fear of further violence, a report has detailed. A day prior to the incident, police arrested a 40-year-old Christian man, identified as Kamran Masih, who ran a small pharmacy in Gharial Kalan village of Punjab.
Local Muslims had accused him of sharing a blasphemous video in WhatsApp groups, Christian Daily International reported, citing a source. “As word of Masih’s arrest spread, his family and other Christians started fleeing the village, fearing a mob attack,” Christian Daily International-Morning Star News quoted the source on condition of anonymity. The source stated that dozens of Muslims gathered near Masih’s shop and his residence to protest and set fire to the two buildings. –IANS akl/as
