Author:
Publication: The Decaan,
www.deccan.com
Date: November 19, 2000
A doctor and a teacher
at a medical college in Islamabad, Younus Shaikh, is in prison facing the
death penalty under the blasphemy laws of the land. He was arrested
by the police on October 4 for pointing out that Mohammed became a Prophet
at the age of 40, and till then his parents were not Muslims.
Shaikh was booked under
the dreaded Section 295-C (blasphemy) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Blasphemy is a non-bailable offence, and attracts the death penalty.
Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf had sought to improve the law
by suggesting a small amendment but had to withdraw following pressure
from the conservative sections of society.
When asked about this
at a media conference in Islamabad earlier this year, he did not agree
with the contention that he had succumbed to fundamentalist pressure saying
his had been just a "technical" suggestion and had been withdrawn because
it did not withstand legal scrutiny.
Shaikh, 45, is the founder
President of "Enlightenment", a Pakistan-based organisation attached to
the International Humanist and Ethical Union. This organisation takes
up issues as varied as support for the Bangladesh writer Taslima Nasreen
who was forced by fanatics to leave her country, and support in writing
for US President Bill Clinton when he was in the midst of the Monica Lewinsky
controversy.
The doctor was produced
before the court on October 19 but was without a lawyer. Lawyers
are often intimidated by the fanatics and are too scared to represent persons
accused of blasphemy. It is also a well-known fact that judges too
are not very keen to try such cases in their courts, and give a ruling
that runs counter to the charges framed against an individual by the police.
According to information
available here, a group of clerics representing the Majlis-i-Khatam-i-Nabuwat
were present in the court to ensure that the case against Shaikh did not
fall through. His glasses were reportedly broken in a scuffle within
the court room, and he was not allowed to speak to anybody.
A local Urdu newspaper
Khabrain has been carrying out a major campaign against Shaikh, demanding
the death penalty for him. The blasphemy law, experts point out,
has a history of abuse and is often used to settle personal scores as a
case can be filed even by those who were not witness to the alleged statements
or actions.
It is reported that in
the doctor's case a complaint was made to the fanatic organisations by
a disgruntled student one Muhamir Asghar Khan. A cleric, Maulana
Abdur registered the case in Islamabad's Margalla police station.
Section 295-C empowers a police officer to arrest the person or persons
without even having to obtain a warrant from a judicial magistrate.
Human rights activists
point out that those undergoing trial under the blasphemy law are victims
of police violence in custody or attacks by religious zealots in the court
rooms. The Roman Catholic Bishop of Faizalabad Bishop John Joseph
had killed himself in protest in front of the sessions court of Sahiwal
on May 5, 1998 sending shock waves through the liberal community in Pakistan
and the world.
It is also pointed out
that blasphemy in Islam is punished different and more severely than blasphemy
in other religions. Musharraf's decision to drop an amendment to
the blasphemy law seeking to make the police less powerful and more accountable
in making arrests had generated a storm of protest amongst the fundamentalist
sections.
It was, however, supported
by a large number of academics, journalists and other professionals who
were visibly upset about the General's decision to succumb to fundamentalist
pressure. Opinion was divided largely between those who felt that
the Chief Executive could not get out of the conservative stranglehold,
and others who insisted it was a "strategic retreat." Significantly the
mainstream media has not taken up the issue.
