The recent extra judicial killing in Sadiqabad, Punjab, Pakistan by a policeman of a man acquitted by the court on the charge of blasphemy, after spending 3 years in jail, shows that Pakistan is drifting more and more towards savagery on its own citizens, often with legal sanction.
In Pakistan, mere accusation of someone of blasphemy often amounts to a death sentence, if not by the court, then by a fanatic mob of bigots, and this applies not only to the alleged blasphemer but also to his lawyers who defend him (Asiya Bibi's lawyer had to flee the country), or his/her sympathisers. However, high placed they may be (as the murder of Salman Taseer, former Governor of Punjab, by his own security guard indicates).
Ailia Zehra's article Violent Extremism : Pakistan has reached a point of no return ' published on this platform shows how deep is the malady is.
Pakistan was declared as an Islamic state at its very inception, which itself was a pointer to the times to come, and steadily its 'Islamization'' has proceeded exponentially in an extreme Wahabi type direction. The 'progressive' Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto got the Pakistan Constitution amended in 1974 by declaring Ahmadis as non Muslims, and thereby threw the tiny Ahmadi community to the wolves (like the Jews in Nazi Germany).
Gen Zia ul Haq took this 'Islamisation' much further by his Hudood and Blasphemy Ordinances, setting up Sharia Courts, etc. which could award amputation of limbs for thefts, public flogging, etc, and further persecution of Ahmadis.
Gen Zia also introduced section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code by an amendment in 1986, which stated:
“Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.”.
Despite a clear alternative in the statute of awarding life imprisonment instead of death for blasphemy, the Federal Shariat Court ruled in 1990 that only death sentence could be awarded, and the Pakistan Supreme Court rejected the appeal against the verdict.
Much more dangerous however, than court verdicts in blasphemy cases, is extra judicial killings of the accused and their lawyers and sympathisers, often during the pendency of the case, or soon after an acquittal, by fanatic mobs whipped up to a blood thirsty frenzy by reactionary bigoted clerics.
Often the accused in blasphemy cases are members of minority communities, the real motivation of the accusation being to grab their property. Minority community members are often blackmailed by asking them to give away their property or else a blasphemy FIR will be filed against them (which in effect is a death sentence). So a Damocles sword hangs over the head of all minority community members, who have become the most vulnerable (their minor daughters are often abducted and forcibly converted).
The Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP), an organisation of fanatic religious hounds, has been given a free rein in Pakistan. Recently in April when French President Macron condemned the slaying of a teacher Samuel Paty by Islamic bigots in France, the TLP organised riots demanding expulsion of the French Ambassador and cutting off of economic ties with France. As a consequence some rioters and 4 policemen were killed.
The Pakistan National Assembly held a fateha for the deceased rioters, but none for the deceased policemen who were killed fighting them. Speaker after speaker in the National Assembly, including government ministers, professed himself to be an ashiq-e-rasool (lover of the Prophet), and condemned the French (their speeches can be seen on YouTube). The Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said his ideology was the same as that of the TLP, though their methods were different. In fact Imran Khan had earlier appeased the religious extremists throughout his election campaign by condemning the Ahmadis (without naming them), and even after his victory he sacked the internationally renowned economist Atif Mian from the Pakistan Economic Advisory Council just because he was an Ahmadi.
Pakistani politicians routinely express their sympathy with the extremists for fear of being lynched by the fanatics if they do not.. Progressive teachers who teach critical thinking to their students are victimised, e.g. Junaid Hafeez who was sentenced to death for blasphemy and is in jail for 8 years, or Pervez Hoodbhoy and Ammar Ali Jan who were sacked. The student Mashal Khan was lynched for alleged blasphemy by his fellow students.
As Ailia Zehra has said in her article, there is no light at the end of the tunnel.