by B. R. GOWANI
Pakistani Christian couple Shehzad Masih and Shama Bibi were killed by a Muslim mob in Kot Radha Kishan, some 60 kilometres (40 miles) southwest of Lahore PHOTO/Family Handout/AFP/Yahoo
Many a times, numerous individuals and families feel that the problem/s she/he/they may be going through are unique in nature and they are the only ones passing through such situations. People also harbor similar feelings about their own countries or other nations. In multitudinous cases, the feelings are not entirely wrong. Pakistan is one of those cases – and most probably, the worst of them all. Pakistan’s, or more appropriately, Crisistan‘s, unending troubles and violence resemble long and lousy Indian TV serials which have no end but keeps on deteriorating more and more.
At present, there is no single center of authority in Pakistan. But then there never has been one; the military has for most of Pakistan’s existence played a direct or indirect role. However, it has never been so bad and chaotic as it is now. For sometime now, there have been multiple forces (many of them very violent) who have established their own power centers and are creating chaos and/or mayhem.
The army; the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence); the Pakistan Taliban and several other Muslim outfits, including Tahirul Qadri‘s movement; Imran Khan‘s PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf or “Movement for Justice”); the Supreme Court; and so on. Not to forget that the army and ISI have many Islamist elements in their ranks too.
In this condition, introducing any kind of progressive and beneficial reform becomes next to impossible, particularly when it’s related to Islam. There are two important reasons for that: the culture and society has been too much Islamized, and the governments are too weak-willed to initiate any such change. Pakistan is in need of many reforms. One of them is the abolition of the blasphemy law under which anyone accused of insulting Prophet Muhammad, Qur’an, etc. can be punished with fine and/or imprisonment or death. Muslims are targeted too but most of the victims of this cruel law are members of the minorities. Almost all of the accusations are fabricated and the real reasons are of non-religious nature. The recent victims are a Christian couple, Shama Bibi and Shehzad, of a town called Kot Radha Kishan. They were blamed of desecrating Qur’an and were then tortured and burned to death in a brick kiln where they used to work. Religion had nothing to do with this heinous act; the financial dispute between the employer and the murdered couple was the actual cause.
Some of the ways these blasphemy laws can be abolished are:
through government initiative and a vote in the parliament;
government acting on its own;
pressure from the United Nations;
and pressure from the donor countries.
The first and second options are almost impossible. But the third and fourth options have the chance to succeed if the UN and donor countries dictate their concern forcefully.
The other totally possible solution is that the Western countries could grant asylum to Pakistani Christians.
B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com