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Pakistani Hindu killed over blasphemy accusation

A Pakistani Hindu factory worker, Jagdeesh Kumar, 22 has been beaten to death by his Muslim coworkers in the port city of Karachi after he was accused of passing blasphemous remarks against Prophet Muhammad, reports Sheraz Khurram Khan, special correspondent for ASSIST News Service in Pakistan.

Regretting the brutal killing of Jagdeesh over an alleged blasphemy accusation, the Chairman of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance, (APMA) Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti told ANS that the family of the deceased told him that he did not have anything to do with religion.

Earlier on Saturday, March 29, Mr. Bhatti urged the Pakistan Parliament to repeal all laws perceived as discriminatory by Pakistani religious minorities' communities besides voicing other concerns of minorities in his maiden address to the Pakistan parliament.

Shahbaz heads APMA, a representative group of all religious minorities including Christians, Hindus, Sikhs and other religious minorities living in Pakistan, a predominantly Muslim country.

Citing the killing of the Hindu man as “yet another example of misuse of blasphemy laws”, Shahbaz said that the blasphemy laws were being exploited by the religious radicals as a weapon to lash, persecute, terrorize, victimize, subjugate and intimidate Pakistani religious minorities. He regretted extrajudicial killing of several blasphemy-accused in the past.

He took exception to the definition of the blasphemy laws and termed it as “open-ended and vague”.

“There should be a proper definition of the law. The killers of blasphemy accused should be brought to justice”, demanded the Christian member of the Pakistan parliament.

“The blasphemy-accused serving their terms in jails are vulnerable to attacks from the Muslim inmates. They are living in a situation of life-and-death”, he said, pointing to the odds that stack against people stigmatized with blaspheming.

Dubbing the incumbent government as “progressive and liberal”, he said it was “about time that the law was abolished”.

APMA, he said had been raising voice for repeal of the controversial laws for a fairly long time. “We back the demand of human rights and Christian rights groups who have been demanding that the law be scrapped.”

He told ANS that the judges have been reluctant to hear the cases of blasphemy accused in the past. The families of the accused are attacked and intimidated by the radical Muslims, he said.

Accentuating the post-trial trauma of the blasphemy-accused, Mr. Shahbaz said that even though they have been acquitted by courts the fear of attacks and intimidation keeps them from living in the locality they were living before they were implicated in blasphemy cases.

They (the blasphemy-accused) are forced to live as “refugees” in their own homeland, said Shahbaz, stressing the perpetual suffering the blasphemy accusation through all of their lives.

He said the APMA members had made an inflexible commitment to get the laws abolished. He said he was deliberating to move a bill in the parliament for either repeal of the laws or for introducing legislation with a view to stop the “misuse of the draconian laws”.

The Christian parliamentarian called for setting up of a judicial commission. The APMA, he said, would like the commission to review all cases of people who have been accused of blasphemy.

“We demand release of all innocent people who have been slapped with false blasphemy accusations by the Muslims to either settle scores or take vengeance”, he said.

Shahbaz Bhatti said he did not believe that a member of Pakistani minorities’ communities, who is already down-trodden, subjugated and oppressed, would dare to commit blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad.

When ANS asked him what chance he saw in getting the legislation done regarding either the repeal or any amendment in the laws with a view to put an end to its misuse, Shahbaz Bhatti said he was mindful of the opposition to any such proposal by the opposition parliamentarians as well as by what he called as “radical-minded Muslims”.

“We will raise our voice for the repeal of the blasphemy laws”, he said “We will do all we can to ensure that the law is abolished”.

The Christian legislator described repeal of discriminatory laws as “mission” of his life. “The APMA is ready to pay any price to get the blasphemy laws repealed”, he said.

He said that he feared he could be attacked but vowed to continue advocating the case of Pakistani minorities. Shahbaz emphasized that the APMA would continue to wage struggle until Pakistani minorities have got equal and similar rights.

The APMA Chief called for absolute religious freedom for Pakistani minorities, social justice and human equality.

He expressed his optimism that all elected members of the APMA will mount concrete efforts to uplift Pakistani minorities. “We will assist and reach out to our persecuted brothers and sisters”, he concluded.

[04/10/2008]

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