Should Pakistan' blasphemy laws be done away with?

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

Lets try and stick with the pro's and con's of the "blasphemy laws" in Pakistan.

It is illogical to justify bad practices, customs or/and laws because X country has worse and so forth - we need to analyze our faults (if they are faults) and decide how to fix them or modify them. Calling out X on its own flaws does not do anything for the problem.

That said, considering how religiously grounded Pakistani society is, while I would like a complete repeal, I would not recommend it, but would definitely raise the burden of proof to be much higher, and try and specify as much as possible what exactly constitutes "Blasphemy".

I don't think that "verbal" exchanges should be considered such, unless you have someone going around making speeches and doing so deliberately to incite - people often say things they don't mean to when they get into arguments etc. so an application of the law there is a complete no no.

Things like "burning the Quran" etc. need to be ignored as well - again because of reasons already mentioned, and that one act could simply be the result of anger or some other events in an individuals life, and especially not when it is done in private - but perhaps if the setting is deliberately public, the individual knows exactly what is being burnt, and the act is deliberately used to incite.

The laws should also be made completely inapplicable in any sort of educational setting.

The punishment should also be changed to only heavy fines and possibly short jail sentences.

 

[Flintlock]

If your point is that this law is misused by extremists than in India thousands were martyred by Hindus in Gujarat there was no law and leave every thing ok, fine, Pakistan is an extremist state b/c it is an Islamic State but India is a secular state why there are mass killings of Minorities there?

Yaar why are you people always so suspicious.

I am not trying to embarrass/put down/insult/sully the image of Pakistan.

I understand that laws need to be in place to prevent religious people from being insulted.

However, this law isn't doing what it is supposed to do.

It is being misused to murder innocent people. Is that a price you are willing to pay, in order to prevent someone from insulting your god?

I definitely would consider it more important to prevent the unfair prosecution of innocents than to prevent someone from burning the image of my god or its holy book.

If there is indeed a god, I am sure he will give greater weightage to humanity than ritual.

 

[Flintlock]

That said, considering how religiously grounded Pakistani society is, while I would like a complete repeal, I would not recommend it, but would definitely raise the burden of proof to be much higher, and try and specify as much as possible what exactly constitutes "Blasphemy".

Agreed.

I don't think that "verbal" exchanges should be considered such, unless you have someone going around making speeches and doing so deliberately to incite - people often say things they don't mean to when they get into arguments etc. so an application of the law there is a complete no no.

Tough to implement such a law, since it is based entirely on perception.

Things like "burning the Quran" etc. need to be ignored as well - again because of reasons already mentioned, and that one act could simply be the result of anger or some other events in an individuals life, and especially not when it is done in private - but perhaps if the setting is deliberately public, the individual knows exactly what is being burnt, and the act is deliberately used to incite.

Agreed. The setting needs to be public, with say a minimum number of observers present at the time.

The laws should also be made completely inapplicable in any sort of educational setting.

That depends on which educational setting actually.

In a primary/highschool, such an act would definitely be a deliberate attempt to incide, expecially seeing the current south-asian mindset.

However, if the setting is a liberal arts/humanities college, there would clearly be a mature audience present who will not be insulted by such a act.. It is highly doubtful, however, that such an institution would be present in Pakistan in the near future.

The punishment should also be changed to only heavy fines and possibly short jail sentences.

Agreed. Too much emphasis is placed in South Asia on perception rather than truth. This needs to be reversed.

 

[solid snake]

Pakistan's 'blasphemy' laws are a disgrace. They should be abolished ASAP. These laws are used by people having grudges against minority persons as a means of easy revenge.

 

[MastanKhan]

Hi,

Blasphemy law in its present form, it is a disgrace to the canons and preachings of islam, the teachings of the prophet Mohammad and the instructions of Allah

Our prophet Mohammad never killed anyone for insulting him, or for defacing the mosques or punished anyone . When ever such issues came up, it was always instructed to find out why had that person committed that actions. Was that action committed because a muslim had taken undue advantage of a non-muslim, a muslim had lied to or cheated a non muslim. The prophet always wanted to find out the instigator behind the out burst. And there were times that muslims were put to shame because they were the ones who had instigated the non muslims and created situations where the helpless and weak non-muslims, in their anger and humiliation that they faced spoke in a derogatory manner against islam.

So, shame on the muslim one more time for lighting the fire--.

Allah the merciful has clearly stated---leave those to me who have used offensive language against me, threatened my prophet Mohammad and desecrated my place of worship or the holy qura'an.

It is very very simple and very very plain-----any muslim who takes it upon himself or herslef to kill a non muslim or prosecute an individual just like that is himself committing blasphemy.

Basically this muslim is telling Allah in a very belligerant manner-----Allah, ( Allah forgive me for writing it ) You are nobody and niether Your promise of protection holds any good in front of me---I will go and kill that heathen.

On the day of judgement this blood will stand out on the clothes of the muslims and the splatter will fall on the clothes of our beloved prophet and at that time Allah will ask our prophet, Mohammad--" what is that blood of innocent people doing on your clothes ". Our prophet will reply in shame " My lord these were innocent non muslims, who were persecuted by these self righteous and arrogant people who did indeed called themleves muslims but truly they had not faith. O ALLAH, forgive me for I was unable to make my followers understand the sanctity of life". Truly on the day of judgement, we muslims will put our prophet Mohammad to shame in front of the whole humanity---that will truly be the day when the wrath of Allah wil fall upon us-----and these poor victims who have been charged with committing blasphemy in this world, will be seen standing closer to the Almighty Allah.

 

[solid snake]

The Prophet used to take a path next to which lay an old woman's house. She would dump her trash on him, yet he never became mad at her. He even visited her when one day she did not emerge to throw garbage at him, only to find out she was sick.

If the Prophet himself dosen't get angry at someone throwing physical objects at him, why should we punish human beings for speaking words against Prophet Muhammad? Why should we not let Allah decide the fate of those who disrespect his final prophet?

This is really something we should not concern ourselves with. If someone wishes to say something against a religious figure, go ahead and say it. Freedom of speech should not be conditional.