An open letter to the PM

Published in Daily Times

Sir: Your Excellency,

Salaam from the entire Christian community of Mirpurkhas.

We, the Christian community of Mirpurkhas, are writing to you with great concern regarding the consequences of the Law of Blasphemy (295 B and C). Already, many innocent people — Muslims, Christians and even Hindus — have lost their lives and many others continue to suffer in prisons across the country. In the latest incident related to blasphemy, we all sorrowfully recall how Mr Shahzad Masih, his wife Shama Bibi and their unborn child were burnt alive in a brick kiln. We appreciate the arrest of some of the culprits and the compensation paid by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif to the victims’ children. He has also taken up the responsibility of educating these children. These are good gestures on the part of the government but these are certainly not the solutions that we need.

We fear that more such incidents will occur. More innocent people will either lose their lives or get arrested for a crime they have not committed. We also fear that the courts will not be able to provide justice as judges and lawyers who are involved in defending blasphemy accused persons are afraid to lose their lives and, out of fear, will either not represent their clients or will let them be sentenced to death. The late Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti lost their lives just because they showed sympathy towards a blasphemy victim and also spoke against the misuse of the blasphemy laws. The government may not have hanged the charged victims but there is always the chance that we might see that unfortunate day as well or they will be killed either in their jail cell or somewhere outside.

Why is this intolerance increasing? The real reason is the misuse of the blasphemy law. As long as there exists this law, we are bound to have more and more tragic incidents like this. We all know the origin of these laws. It was the dictator Ziaul Haq who brought forward these laws and it was your government that got them passed in the Assembly, and now we are facing the music. The kind of Islam the dictator imposed on this country was only for his benefit, to control the poor masses, the marginalised and the minorities. This has made the people, especially some of the illiterate Muslims, so irrational that they kill, burn property and loot in the name of Islam, which is not actually Islam.

In London, you signed a Charter of Democracy with Benazir Bhutto. In that charter you categorically agreed that military dictatorship is wrong and undemocratic. Your document states: “Noting the most devastating and traumatic experiences that our nation experienced under military dictatorships that played havoc with the nation’s destiny and created conditions disallowing the progress of our people and the flowering of democracy.” Again the document states: “We shall not join a military regime or any military sponsored government. No party shall solicit the support of military to come into power or to dislodge a democratic government.”

Through the charter we see a development in your approach. You once served under a dictator and, after suffering the consequences from another dictator, you have realised that military rule is not favourable at all for the country. I now only request you to accept the fact that the dictator you served was also cruel. So cruel that we are still suffering from what he introduced. His policies only addressed a part of the Pakistani population. We request that you abolish all that the dictator Ziaul Haq introduced in the name of Islam, especially 295 B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code and work on policies that will benefit every Pakistani regardless of his or her creed and culture just as you and Benazir Bhutto promised in the Charter of Democracy.

CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Mirpurkhas

the original post available at

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/letters/26-Nov-2014/an-open-letter-to-the-pm