Inquiry Ordered into Blasphemy Entrapment Group in Pakistan
Islamabad, capital of Pakistan, together with Faisal Mosque. (Fassifarooq, Artistic Commons)
LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Day by day Worldwide–Morning Star Information) – A excessive courtroom has suggested the Pakistan authorities to determine a fee to analyze alleged collusion between the Federal Investigation Company (FIA) and Islamist clerics to entrap harmless folks in false blasphemy expenses, sources stated.
Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan of the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom on Feb. 2 ordered formation of a four-member fee to analyze a “blasphemy enterprise group” of clerics and legal professionals stated to have ensnared greater than 400 harmless folks, together with Christians, in a surge of false blasphemy instances within the final two years.
“The fee ought to embrace a retired decide of the excessive courtroom or the Supreme Courtroom, a retired senior officer of the FIA, an enlightened and non secular scholar who has recognized and has carried out works of public good, and a senior professional of data know-how whose presence on the fee will drastically help the fee members in what’s a technologically sophisticated chain that the fee should perceive,” the order said.
The courtroom directed the cupboard secretary to make sure that the abstract is positioned earlier than the federal cupboard for consideration, and that the extra lawyer common ought to submit the cupboard’s choice in courtroom earlier than the subsequent listening to.
The Islamabad Excessive Courtroom issued the order in response to petitions filed by households of greater than 100 folks booked by the FIA for allegedly sharing blasphemous content material on-line. The petitioners claimed that the “blasphemy enterprise group” had fraudulently trapped their family members into sharing blasphemous content material on social media platforms and urged institution of the enquiry fee and evaluation of the legitimacy of the First Data Studies (FIRs) registered by the FIA.
The petitioners primarily based their plea on reviews by the Punjab Police Particular Department and the Nationwide Fee for Human Rights (NCHR). A Particular Department report dated Jan. 24, 2024 revealed {that a} suspicious gang was trapping younger folks in false blasphemy instances and extorting cash in collusion with some FIA officers.
The report really useful {that a} probe be launched to “dig out discreet actions of the gang.”
The NCHR acknowledged these techniques in its report, stating, “Younger males had been focused utilizing feminine operatives beneath pseudonyms, entrapping them in blasphemous actions on-line, which led to their arrests.”
The NCHR report additional highlighted procedural violations, noting that “arrests had been typically carried out by personal people relatively than regulation enforcement, and there have been disturbing reviews of torture throughout and after apprehension. Detainees’ written statements had been often obtained beneath duress, compromising their legitimacy.”
Whereas discussing the Phrases of Reference (TORs) for the proposed fee, the courtroom prompt that the TORs might be framed primarily based on the reviews annexed with the petition and any extra proof produced earlier than the fee.
“The fee is to conclude whether or not there have been particular cases of abuse of the blasphemy legal guidelines by submitting false complaints and, to the extent doable, to establish the means and strategies by which such abuse was carried out for false implications and to the extent doable to establish the perpetrators,” the order learn.
The courtroom additionally famous that one other prompt TOR might be the fee contemplating whether or not there’s an organized methodology of funding the growing on-line blasphemy pattern, presumably by overseas components.
The order said that fee hearings should be in public view, besides the place it considers issues of such excessive sensitivity – for example, when viewing blasphemous footage – that it could exclude the general public from the hearings.
“The fee may co-opt the investigating officers to hold out numerous inquiries into subsidiary points as and once they come up earlier than the fee,” it added.
The courtroom additionally inspired the complainants of the FIRs and members of spiritual teams who take into account themselves flag-bearers within the combat in opposition to on-line blasphemy to be a part of the fee’s proceedings, emphasizing that they aren’t in opposition to any particular person however are looking for to disclose the reality.
“If they’re going to oppose this train, they may weaken as a result of then they may ever be blended up and handled in the identical breath as these abusing the blasphemy legal guidelines are,” the order said. “They have to come ahead and wholeheartedly assist the proceedings of the fee. Anybody opposing the proceedings of the fee unnecessarily provides rise to doubts and suspicions as to their true motivations. They have to be certain that they don’t find yourself supporting these suspicions.”
Loss of life Threats
The order comes as Islamist components have threatened to kill a outstanding TV journalist, Munizae Jahangir, for elevating the blasphemy concern on her present.
On her TV present Highlight on Aaj TV, Jahangir on Feb. 3 invited households of three victims of the “blasphemy enterprise group” to debate their instances and to spotlight the modus operandi of the criminals concerned in trapping harmless youths.
A day after Jahangir’s present, a gaggle of legal professionals related to the “blasphemy gang” held a press convention and protest exterior the Lahore Press Membership. The protesters condemned Jahangir’s present on the difficulty and in addition rejected the Islamabad Excessive Courtroom’s order for the institution of an inquiry fee.
Subsequently Jahangir started dealing with a hate marketing campaign on social media, the place she was hit with a barrage of tweets and messages, a few of them carrying loss of life threats or “dire penalties.”
The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) in an announcement on Thusday (Feb. 6) slammed the focused harassment and trolling of the Muslim journalist.
“We stand firmly in solidarity with Munizae Jahangir, who continues to face unjust assaults for her unwavering dedication to fact and justice,” stated PFUJ President Afzal Butt and Secretary Basic Arshad Ansari of their joint assertion. The PFUJ demanded an instantaneous finish to the harassment and trolling of Jahangir and all different journalists dealing with related threats.
“We urge the federal government to take concrete steps to make sure the protection and safety of journalists and to carry accountable these accountable for these cowardly acts,” they said.
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doorways’ 2025 World Watch Checklist of probably the most tough locations to be a Christian.
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