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Concept
Blasphemy in Pakistan
Summary
The Pakistan Penal Code, the main criminal code of Pakistan, penalizes blasphemy () against any recognized religion, providing penalties ranging from a fine to death. According to human rights groups, blasphemy laws in Pakistan have been exploited not so much for protecting religious sensablities of Muslims, but for persecuting minorities, and for settling personal rivalries -- often against other Muslims.
From 1967 to 2014, over 1,300 people were accused of blasphemy, with Muslims constituting most of those accused. Between 1987 and February 2021 at least 1,855 people have been charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.
Though no judicial execution has been carried out under these laws, many of those accused, their lawyers, and anyone speaking against blasphemy laws and proceedings have become victims of lynchings or street vigilantism in Pakistan. From 1947 to 2021, 89 Pakistanis were "extra-judicially killed over blasphemy accusations". Among the victims (for speaking out against blasphemy laws or acquitting accused) have been the Governor of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province (Salman Taseer), the Federal Minister for Minorities (Shahbaz Bhatti), and a high court justice in his chambers (Arif Iqbal Bhatti). As of early 2021, according to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, around 80 people are known to be incarcerated in Pakistan on blasphemy charges, with half of those facing life in prison or the death penalty.
Many people accused of blasphemy have been murdered before their trials were over, and renowned figures who opposed the blasphemy law have been assassinated.
Since 1990, 62 people have been murdered following blasphemy accusations. According to one religious minority source, an accusation of blasphemy commonly exposes the accused, police, lawyers, and judges to harassment, threats, attacks, and rioting. (In October 1997, for example, a high court justice in Lahore was murdered in his chambers for acquitting two Christians accused of blasphemy, but the killer was "acquitted due to lack of witness testimony".
Official source
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