The state has lost its authority to challenge the semi-literate maulvis who do more harm than good.—Photo by AP
As the residents of a village near Kasur have demonstrated — with fatal consequences — there is little that is as explosive as anger ignited by religious passions.
In yet another incident of a frenzied mob out to punish alleged blasphemy, a young man was beaten to death after his father reportedly claimed that he was the last prophet of Islam. The alleged blasphemer — an illiterate brick-kiln worker-turned-faith healer — is in police custody and other members of his family are in hiding. Their lives may still be in danger as reports from the area suggest that public anger has not subsided.
The incident is part of an established pattern. Propelled and led by religious leaders, an angry mob takes the law into its own hands to punish alleged blasphemers. The authorities almost always fail to defuse the situation. The Gojra incident in August 2009, where allegations of blasphemy led to deaths and large-scale arson, is one example.
In its attempts to ‘Islamise’ society over the years, especially during the Zia era, the state has come to a point where it is not able to rein in the obscurantist forces of its own creation. It has lost its authority to challenge the semi-literate maulvis who do more harm than good.
Few things have fed such forces more than the blasphemy laws. Since the mid-1980s when these laws were introduced, blasphemy cases have grown exponentially. Many alleged blasphemers have died, mostly at the hands of mobs, much before their case was heard or decided.
These laws have been used as weapons for personal, political, social and economic victimisation. What else can justify the registration of a blasphemy case against the country’s foremost development practitioner Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan?
Efforts must be made towards the repeal of the blasphemy laws if the state is serious about dousing religious anger before it is consumed by it.
What should I say now when the Government doesn't have the hold on domestic violence, but still they want to be on ruling seats. Benazir Bhutto was somebody who everyone admired but this government has spilled water on all those voters hope who voted for them in the hope that they'll being the prosperity.
In short I must admit we've a weakness that we want results in short time, instead of having long term planning, like someone rightly said that slow and steady wins the race and that's where we are lagging and get some of the world record hold corrupt personnel into the power to rule.
I don't say everything which Musharraf did was good but atleast whatever he took, he installed in the country, although I must agree he did these sorta thing wrong that obliging whatever the US government ordered him to, but on the contrary he did many good things too, probably more good and we people saw that, atleast at that time our Currency was stable at PKR 60 per US$ since our currency was downgraded after we had our Atomic explosions and in return we had sanctions and in result our currency downgraded but not like this government who had in first 12 months had currency more downgraded from 60 to 84.64 PKR per US$. Is that for which we elected these personnel? Everyone knows how they got elected and because they don't have any check and balance, they are incapable of handling even domestic violence, they're just busy settling their own people in big cities like Karachi Lahore on green-lands or even at somebody else' property by showing false documents, and because Police and other law governing organizations come under Federal government that's why there's no need of complaining to Police on this thing.
ایسے حکمران اگر ھمارے سر پے رہے تو ھمرا واقعی میں الللہ ہی حافظ ہے
(translation) if such governance is on us than only Allah almighty can save us, for sure!
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