Tahir Naseem, the blasphemy accused man who was shot dead inside a courtroom in Peshawar on July 29, belonged to a village in Peshawar known as Achini. His father was an Ahmadi by faith and had migrated to the US. The rest of his family also resides in the US.
In the late 2000s, Tahir came back to Pakistan and embraced Sunni Islam during a small ceremony held in his village attended by many local elders. Those celebrating his conversion to Islam had asked Tahir to contract a second marriage and subsequently arranged for the same.
Soon after his second marriage, he made a claim to his new wife that he was a ‘Mujadad’ of the 15th Century. His wife was deeply troubled by this claim and told her parents. This news spread in the whole village and everyone started wondering as to what has happened to Tahir and why he was uttering claims that could be perceived blasphemous and ultimately land him in trouble.
Later, it became clear to the local people including religious scholars who were involved in the matter that Tahir was mentally unstable and hence a meeting of local people was organised by the elders. In the gathering, Tahir was given an opportunity to seek forgiveness from everyone. He admitted publicly that since he was mentally retarded, he made a mistake and vowed not to repeat anything like that in the future or else he shall be ready to face the consequences in the form of registration of FIR under Section 295-C of Pakistan Penal Code.
Everyone in the village forgave him, as is evident from a video available on YouTube.
His confession and apology were noted down in a stamp paper with the signatures of significant elders from his village. He was forced to divorce his wife since she was not ready to continue living with Tahir after hearing his claims.
Tahir was then told to go back to the US. This marriage had taken place with the consent of his first wife with whom he has a son and a daughter. She consented in the hope that the second marriage might improve Tahir's mental state but things went south.
After a few years, in 2018, a madrassa student named Awais in Islamabad, hatched a plot to invite Tahir to Pakistan in order to ultimately get him arrested. Awais befriended Tahir on Facebook and gained his trust. Awais told Tahir that he would play his role in strengthening his claim of being a Mujadad before the Ulema in Peshawar. As mentioned earlier, Tahir was an abnormal man which means he was not intelligent enough to grasp the ill intention of his social media friend. Therefore, he decided to go to Pakistan to meet Awais. Awais had already made arrangements with the police and informed them all about how insane Tahir was that he trusted him and was en route to Pakistan. Since Awais was a Pashtun, he thought it was best to invite Tahir to Peshawar rather than Islamabad as it was relatively easier for him to get the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police on his side.
Awais was waiting for Tahir in the parking of Hyper Mall, a shopping Mall in Peshawar along with policemen in civil clothes. Everyone knew Tahir could easily be manipulated. Rather than arresting Tahir on the spot and registering a case against him, the police in an attempt to collect evidence against him pretended to be his followers and referred to him as 'Mr. Prophet, how are you doing today?'. They accused Tahir of blasphemy for claiming to be a prophet, but why was it kosher for police to repeat the same claim as if it were true – merely to trap a mentally unstable man?
As Tahir genuinely believed that these were the people who were to become his followers, he uttered everything and again made clear his claim of being a 'Mujadid'. Once the evidence was collected in the form of audio, Tahir was still not arrested but taken to the police station via backdoor. He was given VIP treatment by the police, was served with lavish dinner, not even put behind bars and was given a bed in the staff rooms as the police knew Tahir would not flee due to his stupidity.
The next day Tahir was taken to the SSP investigation. Once again, Tahir was still not arrested but in fact evidence was being collected against him. The SSP induced Tahir to reiterate his claims and that is exactly what Tahir did. Up until then, Tahir was completely unaware as to what was actually going on.
Once all the evidence was collected, Tahir was presented before the magistrate and the police submitted evidence against him and claimed that Tahir has unequivocally confessed to his crimes. When the magistrate asked Tahir if he confesses to have committed blasphemy, he was shocked because that was the first time he had heard that word and responded to the Magistrate by telling him that he could not even think of committing such a sin. He asked the magistrate to read his diary which was attached as evidence against him and told the magistrate that his diary is full of praise towards Allah and his Prophet (PBUH). The magistrate denied the police's request and gave the following order: "Accused produced in custody by the police with regard to record his confession statement. Accused is unable to understand the meaning of allegations. The requirements of Section 364/164 CrPc are not fulfilled. Therefore, the request is turned down and the accused be remanded to judicial custody. "
For obvious reasons, it was hard for Tahir to get a counsel as advocacy in such cases has repercussions of its own. Once his request for bail was turned down by the session’s court, two lawyers submitted bail application for him in the Peshawar High Court but even after having taken the fee, they left the case in the middle. They never returned the fee. After a long struggle, Tahir's family found a counsel but his bail request in High Court was also rejected due to the gravity of allegations.
Again, Tahir was without a counsel. Finally after much ado, he was able to hire a senior Advocate of Supreme Court Mr. Khurshid Khan, the same man who threw black spray on Advocate Khursheed Ahmed Qasuri many years ago when the latter was Musharraf's aide.
Once Khurshid Khan became Tahir's counsel, Tahir had some hope of being defended legally. Right in those days, he was visited by the Complainant Awais, who advised Tahir not to spend money on counsels rather he should make a deal with Awais and the case will be withdrawn.
The jail record can confirm Awais's visit. Unfortunately, Khurshid Khan died of a heart attack after a few months and the accused was once again left without a lawyer.
The gist of the sections under which Tahir was charged is that he uttered something which had the tendency to hurt the feelings of Muslims, and the maximum punishments were 10. 5 and 1 years in the sections with which he was charged. The content submitted by the police as evidence against Tahir was not seen sufficient to constitute blasphemy by the Trial Court.
Finally on July 29, before the court's verdict, a 17-year-old boy entered the courtroom during the hearing and gunned down Tahir.
The above article has been contributed by a source who knew the slain Tahir Naseem and is privy to the facts surrounding the blasphemy case against him. However, Naya Daur Media does not necessarily endorse the content of the piece.
In the late 2000s, Tahir came back to Pakistan and embraced Sunni Islam during a small ceremony held in his village attended by many local elders. Those celebrating his conversion to Islam had asked Tahir to contract a second marriage and subsequently arranged for the same.
Soon after his second marriage, he made a claim to his new wife that he was a ‘Mujadad’ of the 15th Century. His wife was deeply troubled by this claim and told her parents. This news spread in the whole village and everyone started wondering as to what has happened to Tahir and why he was uttering claims that could be perceived blasphemous and ultimately land him in trouble.
Later, it became clear to the local people including religious scholars who were involved in the matter that Tahir was mentally unstable and hence a meeting of local people was organised by the elders. In the gathering, Tahir was given an opportunity to seek forgiveness from everyone. He admitted publicly that since he was mentally retarded, he made a mistake and vowed not to repeat anything like that in the future or else he shall be ready to face the consequences in the form of registration of FIR under Section 295-C of Pakistan Penal Code.
Everyone in the village forgave him, as is evident from a video available on YouTube.
His confession and apology were noted down in a stamp paper with the signatures of significant elders from his village. He was forced to divorce his wife since she was not ready to continue living with Tahir after hearing his claims.
Tahir was then told to go back to the US. This marriage had taken place with the consent of his first wife with whom he has a son and a daughter. She consented in the hope that the second marriage might improve Tahir's mental state but things went south.
After a few years, in 2018, a madrassa student named Awais in Islamabad, hatched a plot to invite Tahir to Pakistan in order to ultimately get him arrested. Awais befriended Tahir on Facebook and gained his trust. Awais told Tahir that he would play his role in strengthening his claim of being a Mujadad before the Ulema in Peshawar. As mentioned earlier, Tahir was an abnormal man which means he was not intelligent enough to grasp the ill intention of his social media friend. Therefore, he decided to go to Pakistan to meet Awais. Awais had already made arrangements with the police and informed them all about how insane Tahir was that he trusted him and was en route to Pakistan. Since Awais was a Pashtun, he thought it was best to invite Tahir to Peshawar rather than Islamabad as it was relatively easier for him to get the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police on his side.
Awais was waiting for Tahir in the parking of Hyper Mall, a shopping Mall in Peshawar along with policemen in civil clothes. Everyone knew Tahir could easily be manipulated. Rather than arresting Tahir on the spot and registering a case against him, the police in an attempt to collect evidence against him pretended to be his followers and referred to him as 'Mr. Prophet, how are you doing today?'. They accused Tahir of blasphemy for claiming to be a prophet, but why was it kosher for police to repeat the same claim as if it were true – merely to trap a mentally unstable man?
As Tahir genuinely believed that these were the people who were to become his followers, he uttered everything and again made clear his claim of being a 'Mujadid'. Once the evidence was collected in the form of audio, Tahir was still not arrested but taken to the police station via backdoor. He was given VIP treatment by the police, was served with lavish dinner, not even put behind bars and was given a bed in the staff rooms as the police knew Tahir would not flee due to his stupidity.
The next day Tahir was taken to the SSP investigation. Once again, Tahir was still not arrested but in fact evidence was being collected against him. The SSP induced Tahir to reiterate his claims and that is exactly what Tahir did. Up until then, Tahir was completely unaware as to what was actually going on.
Once all the evidence was collected, Tahir was presented before the magistrate and the police submitted evidence against him and claimed that Tahir has unequivocally confessed to his crimes. When the magistrate asked Tahir if he confesses to have committed blasphemy, he was shocked because that was the first time he had heard that word and responded to the Magistrate by telling him that he could not even think of committing such a sin. He asked the magistrate to read his diary which was attached as evidence against him and told the magistrate that his diary is full of praise towards Allah and his Prophet (PBUH). The magistrate denied the police's request and gave the following order: "Accused produced in custody by the police with regard to record his confession statement. Accused is unable to understand the meaning of allegations. The requirements of Section 364/164 CrPc are not fulfilled. Therefore, the request is turned down and the accused be remanded to judicial custody. "
For obvious reasons, it was hard for Tahir to get a counsel as advocacy in such cases has repercussions of its own. Once his request for bail was turned down by the session’s court, two lawyers submitted bail application for him in the Peshawar High Court but even after having taken the fee, they left the case in the middle. They never returned the fee. After a long struggle, Tahir's family found a counsel but his bail request in High Court was also rejected due to the gravity of allegations.
Again, Tahir was without a counsel. Finally after much ado, he was able to hire a senior Advocate of Supreme Court Mr. Khurshid Khan, the same man who threw black spray on Advocate Khursheed Ahmed Qasuri many years ago when the latter was Musharraf's aide.
Once Khurshid Khan became Tahir's counsel, Tahir had some hope of being defended legally. Right in those days, he was visited by the Complainant Awais, who advised Tahir not to spend money on counsels rather he should make a deal with Awais and the case will be withdrawn.
The jail record can confirm Awais's visit. Unfortunately, Khurshid Khan died of a heart attack after a few months and the accused was once again left without a lawyer.
The gist of the sections under which Tahir was charged is that he uttered something which had the tendency to hurt the feelings of Muslims, and the maximum punishments were 10. 5 and 1 years in the sections with which he was charged. The content submitted by the police as evidence against Tahir was not seen sufficient to constitute blasphemy by the Trial Court.
Finally on July 29, before the court's verdict, a 17-year-old boy entered the courtroom during the hearing and gunned down Tahir.
The above article has been contributed by a source who knew the slain Tahir Naseem and is privy to the facts surrounding the blasphemy case against him. However, Naya Daur Media does not necessarily endorse the content of the piece.