KP student kills college principal for ‘blasphemy'

[Alpha BeeTee]

In Prophet Mohammad PBUH, Not a single one time offender was punished ever. They were all forgiven. Take his behaviour as an example about those Kuffars who used to Disrespect Him In Makkah Times. Did He kill them or forgave them during Fathah e Makkah ?

All the blasphemers were repeated offenders, were given chance to refrain from, by Companions. But they didnt. All these are documented in Saha Sitta books.

Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) even exiled a Jewish Poet who used to blaspheme against Him on the request of Prophet PBUH. Instead of killing him

Now compare it with Pakistani Awam attitude, behaviour and the laws enacted who doesnt have any single provision of forgiveness and Mumtaz Qadri behaviour and let us know whether Pakistani Awam and Law itself is blasphemy against Prophet Mohammad PBUH because they neither give blasphemers a chance to repent nor forgive them on their offense.

Who said the conduct of Pakistani awam is exemplary in this regard?
Yehi tou keh raha hun kay bewaquf mullah and beghairat liberal kay beech this law is going to suffer.

 

[saiyan0321]

Doremon na sahi pokemon hi ikathey kar lein gay

Agar woh bhi akhathay na hon tu moulvi burka apkay Islamabad ki masjid ka zuroor mil jaye ga.

 

[El Sidd]

Doremon na sahi pokemon hi ikathey kar lein gay

Bhai Investigation hogi abhi.

Log chaanp dete hai chezen. Dawn ne chaapa hai. Zara sabar krlo pata lag jae.

Kapre phaarne ki jaldi me rehte ho.

Acha ek nayi cheez try kro Pokemon walay.

Try blaming easy access to guns and how zewar of gun is Potential hazard.

Ye dikhawa hai. Ajkal media wars horahi hai. Dekha nahi SC judge ki upskirt horahi hai.

Relax....

Baki baniye lagay hain apni dukaan me unko chor do

 

[Mitho1980]

Legacy of zia ul haq.

 

[Zibago]

Try blaming easy access to guns and how zewar of gun is Potential hazard.

Yes i am against public ownership of guns we should make it really hard to own guns and treat guns worse than heroine

Bhai Investigation hogi abhi.

Log chaanp dete hai chezen. Dawn ne chaapa hai. Zara sabar krlo pata lag jae.

Kuch logon ko to ismein bhi yahodi majosi lucky irani sazish nazar a rahi hay unka kiya karein

 

[Alpha BeeTee]

You have completely missed the point. When High Court Judges get killed for acquitting someone accused of committing blasphemy for the lack of proof, there's definitely something very wrong with the society and the so called thekedars of Islam ...

Tou bhai men aap ko mullah ka spokesman lagta hun? Mullah kay kaam mullah se ja kay pochen.
All I want is that while everybody is ready to champion the cause of unjust killings ( which is the right cause ), we must also make sure that no one dare talk loose about our Prophet in our country.
And no, I didnt miss any point. I was saying what needs to be said very vocally on this issue.
While we all are concerened that mullah is abusing this law, the cunning liberal wants it completely thrown away.

 

[Maarkhoor]

I wonder how can we make a law more lethal that already stipulates mandatory death penalty for all blasphemers, without even defining what qualifies as blasphemy .... Also, neither the circumstances, nor the intention of the offender is considered ... All you need is witnesses who testify before the court that blasphemy was committed and they don't even have to repeat in the court what was said/written by the alleged offender, and the court hands over death penalty ....

There is nothing wrong with the law, it was installed to save citizens but it seems Govt fails to implement this law completely and that is why desperate people took such steps. Persons like Bhensa set free by Govt instead they should tried in Pakistani courts and if that happened people never took the law in their hands and report to police.

Sad incident teacher must be respected, he should tried under blaspheme law if he made wrong accusation since same law applies to false accusations.

 

[El Sidd]

Kuch logon ko to ismein bhi yahodi majosi lucky irani sazish nazar a rahi hay unka kiya karein

Pori duniya me ek tum hakeem bach gaye ho. Khair lagay raho.

Do din me moun ki khao gay.

 

[Maarkhoor]

I claim you committed blasphemy i have no proof but i do have an angry mob what would you do?

It is his fate to die like that.

 

[MultaniGuy]

KP student kills college principal for ‘blasphemy’
Pakistan

https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/kp-student-kills-college-principal-for-blasphemy/

CHARSADDA – A grade 12 student at a college in Khyber Charsadda shot dead his principal after accusing him of blasphemy on Monday, police said.

The area police said Faheem fired six bullets at Islamia College Shabqadar principal Sareer which proved fatal, according to local media reports.

Police said the principal had snubbed Faheem for participating in the Faizabad sit-in and ruled him absent for three days.

The accused, who says he has no remorse, is in custody while an investigation is in process.

Obviously wrong. You should never take the law into your own hands.
I condemn this murder. If the principal committed blasphemy then the principal should be tried in the courts for that.

 

[Zibago]

Pori duniya me ek tum hakeem bach gaye ho. Khair lagay raho.

Arey hamain logon ki jano sey khelny ka shok nahi ajkal hakeemon ki adhi sey ziyada dawayian jali hotein hain jo kaam aur bigar deti hein

Do din me moun ki khao gay.

Ena toan Najomi

 

[M. Sarmad]

While we all are concerened that mullah is abusing this law,

You don't seem to be, your only concern is "liberals". ...... Anyway, it's not about the liberals, this unislamic law which contradicts the Sunnah of the prophet itself is an insult to Islam and humanity ...

There is nothing wrong with the law, it was installed to save citizens but it seems Govt fails to implement this law completely and that is why desperate people took such steps. Persons like Bhensa set free by Govt instead they should tried in Pakistani courts and if that happened people never took the law in their hands and report to police.

Sad incident teacher must be respected, he should tried under blaspheme law if he made wrong accusation since same law applies to false accusations.

It's not the failure of the government to implement the law ... The Mullahs kill judges for acquitting alleged blasphemers (when there is no incriminating evidence). No lawyer tries to defend anyone accused of committing blasphemy because of threats, several lawyers who dared to try defend the blasphemy accused in the court of law have been killed by religious groups... Mere allegation of blasphemy makes one a criminal ... And already dead ...

 

[MultaniGuy]

The murder must be condemned. The Grade 12 student has no right to take the law into his own hands.

 

[TheLahoriGuy]

Main hoon Qadri sunni tun run tunna .

Where are the people that claimed education is the magic pill ? Both in these cases and the mashal Khan case the perpetrators were well educated lads, also let's be clear about it the killer himself only ALLEGES that the principal commited blasphemy and he took it as enough reason to kill him. This is the culture we're breeding and then we make statements saying that we are tolerant people.

 

[Solomon2]

I claim you committed blasphemy i have no proof but i do have an angry mob what would you do?

...We are not Turks we are Pakistani and we have our own ideology. Pakistani ideology is not replica of some thing but a path of it's own self. This change is not coming and no one can bring it. Penetration into Pakistani mind set is not possible. We are Pakistanis...

The jury and the executioner: Misusing the blasphemy law for personal vengeance
By Raza Habib Raja Published: January 26, 2018

Sareer Ahmad, the principal of Islamia College Shabqadar, was killed by a student on the pretext of blasphemy. PHOTO: EXPRESS/FILE

A few days ago, I came across a headline that shook me to the core. A student killed his principal in Charsadda, on the pretext that the man had committed blasphemy by merely reprimanding him for his absence from school.

The student had skipped school to attend the infamous Faizabad sit-in. The fact that the dharna was supposedly conducted for the protection of the finality of prophethood, and his principal indirectly rebuking him for attending it, was enough for the student to justify killing him.

Over the past several years, I have witnessed several incidents in which blasphemy was used as a pretext for framing and killing individuals. There have been instances where people have used the blasphemy law to accuse someone, and sometimes vicious mobs have simply bypassed the need to use the law and have meted out violent “justice” by themselves. I still remember a few years ago, when a violent mob burnt a Christian couple alive under suspicion of blasphemy. And of course, the horrific incident of Mashal Khan’s lynching is also fresh in our memories.

However, this recent incident has perhaps shocked me to a greater extent, as it reveals that the problem has now attained dangerous and abnormal proportions. In this case, an individual has simply stretched the definition of blasphemy to his liking and killed his principal. This individual decided to act as both the jury and the executioner, with a cold-bloodedness that would make anyone cringe.

This time there has been no misuse of the law pertaining to blasphemy, but instead, a complete bypassing of the legal process. There was no angry mob involved, and unlike Salman Taseer’s murder, where due to his high profile one factor was perhaps a desire for self-glorification, this killing has been done purely out of deep-rooted beliefs. Moreover, this man showed absolutely no remorse after killing a person, and brazenly admitted that he is not afraid to kill. There is a strange sort of self-righteousness embedded in his behaviour, which is extremely concerning.

As mentioned earlier, the victim was an ordinary man, which takes out of the equation the desire in the murderer for attaining “immortal” fame in the vein of Ilm Din or Mumtaz Qadri. Instead, this particular murder has revealed that such acts are now being committed against ordinary people and out of personal conviction. There is a mainstreaming and dangerous normalisation of religiously motivated murders, which shows that extremism is no longer a fringe, but is slowly morphing into an everyday reality.

Ordinary people, like you and me, have every reason to fear. Any statement, particularly if it is even remotely perceived as a criticism of the behaviour of religious fundamentalists (the principal was, after all, killed because he reprimanded the student for missing his classes) can motivate a person to do the unthinkable and that too with conviction. Qadri had interpreted Taseer’s criticism of Pakistan’s blasphemy law as blasphemy itself, and now we are at a stage where this individual has simply decided that a reprimand by his principal for missing classes also counts as blasphemy. Blasphemy is a very serious and pertinent issue, but what constitutes as blasphemy is increasingly no longer a question that courts have to decide. Instead, it is left to what an enraged person feels on the spur of the moment.

This form of extremism is even more dangerous than suicide bombings, as the latter can be tackled to some extent by eliminating physical sanctuaries and training camps. Suicide bombers are a very tiny fringe and often constitute of teenagers who are brainwashed and trained to commit acts of terrorism.

What we are witnessing now, however, is quite different, and much more difficult to tackle. Moreover, extremism is no longer just a Salafi or Wahabi domain, but is slowly seeping into other sects in another and perhaps more dangerous form.

How have we come to this situation?

For years, the liberal intelligentsia has been challenging the misuse of our blasphemy law. However, in my opinion, the situation is not limited to the law itself but also due to a politicisation of the issue. What was previously only a matter tackled by religious groups, has in recent times become the political strategy of mainstream political parties, particularly the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Both parties have in recent times frequently whipped up religious sensitivities in the public sphere. In 2017, the opposition politicised the Election Bill 2017, accusing the government of tinkering with the finality of prophethood clause. Sheikh Rasheed openly alleged that the government had removed the clause from the election bill, forcing the government to restore the original and rectify its “mistake”.

During this entire issue, the Pakistani media kept on sensationalising the matter in the most brazen manner. There were TV programs in which some anchors openly claimed that the government had compromised the clause, and criticised it for it. Before that, some Pakistani TV channels also indulged in reckless behaviour, including levelling charges of blasphemy on the abducted bloggers. Due to this, the already sensitive issue became even more sensitive in the public’s imagination. Such irresponsible coverage of the electoral bill controversy further worsened the situation.

Cornered and desperate to wriggle itself out of the controversy, the PML-N government decided to play on the same religious turf, with MNAs like Captain (retired) Muhammad Safdar indulging in a diatribe against the Ahmadi community to engage in some damage control.

This was followed by the Faizabad dharna, where a few thousand men literally forced an elected government to yield to their demands. During this entire time, the opposition reiterated its blame on the government for its “mistake” and instead of helping during this extremely sensitive time for the nation, only created obstacles that further exacerbated the matter.

Immediately after the Faizabad debacle, some of the PML-N assembly members, fearful of being branded as culprits with respect to the sensitive religious issue, have constantly been bringing up religion with extra intensity and have also been increasingly aggressive towards minorities. The government even fought the by-election in Chakwal using such tactics.

Likewise, the PTI has also been flogging this issue and actually lent support to hardline religious clerks. Jahangir Tareen even met the spiritual leader, Pir Hameeduddin Sialvi, and assured him of PTI’s support. Following that, PTI’s Imran Khan also attended the Khatm-e-Nabuwat conference, a gesture which once again projected the issue further into the public sphere. In his speech, Imran once again stressed the need for finding the reason behind the “amendment” in the Election Bill 2017.

Both mainstream parties have been trying to outdo each other, creating a vicious cycle where sensitive religious issues are getting mainstreamed and in the process, reactionary violence is being normalised. Both the electronic as well as social media are also constantly sensationalising the issue, further increasing the sensitivity of the entire matter.

When all of this is happening in the country, the latest incident in Charsadda should hardly come as a surprise. The murderer pulled the trigger, but we are all collectively responsible for being the enablers. As we rapidly slide towards mayhem, one can only be increasingly fearful that the coming election will be fought along similar lines, which will definitely not bode well for the future in which Pakistan remains a tolerant nation.

Raza Habib Raja
The author is a recent Cornell graduate and currently pursuing his PhD in political science at Maxwell School, Syracuse University. He has also worked for a leading development finance institution in Pakistan. He is a freelance journalist whose works have been published at Huffington Post, Dawn (Pakistan), Express Tribune (Pakistan) and Pak Tea House. He tweets @razaraja (twitter.com/razaraja?lang=en)

@Kaptaan