What is Blasphemy law in Pakistan?

After the murder of former Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, a debate had been started in Pakistan regarding blasphemy law. Salman Taseer’s security guard Mumtaz Qadri had accepted that he had killed him on opposing blasphemy law and said that he is not guilty for this murder. After so many hearings in High Courts and Supreme Court of Pakistan, Mumtaz Qadri had sentenced to death by the Supreme Court of Pakistan. Religious school of thought in Pakistan claims that the former Governor Punjab Salman Taseer had attempted blasphemy, while secular school of thought said that he had only criticized man-made law. Previously, case of blasphemy was also registered against Sherry Rehman.

Although many people in Pakistan talks about this law and shared their point of view with other regarding this law, but the fact is that most of the people in Pakistan didn’t know what is blasphemy law in Pakistan? In the Constitution of Pakistan, C-295 act is known as blasphemy law. Under this law, any one accused of using abusive or immoral remarks for the Prophet (PBUH), whether in the written form or saying it, or issuing any statement directly or indirectly against the Prophet, that person will have to face death penalty or life imprisonment along with penalty.

According to the Constitution of Pakistan, any person who is accused of issuing abusive remarks about the sacred personalities of any religion will have to face trial, under blasphemy law.

This act is not only imposed on non-Muslims or minorities but it is also implemented on all the Muslims in Pakistan. During the tenure of Zia ul Haq, several clauses were added in this constitution in order to protect the honor of Prophet of Islam (PBUH), between 1980 and 1986. Ahmadi’s were also separated from Islam during the military government of Zia ul Haq.

According to the statistics, more than 1300 people have been accused of blasphemy in Pakistan, during the period of 1987 to 2014. The statistics also shows that majority of the accused people were belonging to non-Muslim minorities. Majority of the accused persons were involved in desecration of Quran. More than 60 accused persons of blasphemy have been killed before their trial.

Some people in Pakistan claimed that the blasphemy law is wrongly used in Pakistan in few cases, due to which innocent people have been targeted. On the other end, religious school of thought said that the government should have to sort out whether alleged person is involved in this crime or not, other than ruling out blasphemy law in Pakistan.