Population by religion, 2023 Blasphemy accused by religion, 2024
The Pakistan Penal Code outlaws blasphemy () against any recognized religion, with punishments ranging from a fine to the death penalty. According to various human rights organizations, Pakistan's blasphemy laws have been used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal rivalries, frequently against other Muslims, rather than to safeguard religious sensibilities.
Between 1987 and February 2021, at least 1,855 individuals were charged under Pakistan's blasphemy laws, with Muslims constituting most of those accused.
Although death sentences for blasphemy have been issued on numerous occasions, no one has yet been executed by the order of the courts or government of Pakistan. However, those accused of blasphemy are frequently targeted and killed by angry mobs before any trial can begin.
At least 89 Pakistanis were extrajudicially killed over blasphemy accusations from 1947 to 2021.Matt Hoffman, Modern Blasphemy Laws in Pakistan and the Rimsha Masih Case: What Effect—if Any—the Case Will Have on Their Future Reform, 13 WASH. U. GLOBALSTUD. L. REV. 371 (2014), Among the victims of such killings have been high profile Pakistanis such as Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti, and high court justice Arif Iqbal Bhatti, who was slain in his chambers.
According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, as of early 2021, 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. As of 2023, there were at least 53 people in custody across Pakistan on blasphemy charges.
Context
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."Bad-mouthing: Pakistan's blasphemy laws legitimise intolerance". The Economist, 29 November 2014. 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".)
Critics complain that those accused of blaspheming have seldom actually said or done anything blasphemous; (one lawyer who defends those accused of blasphemy, Anneqa Maria, states that: "In my entire career of 14 years as a criminal lawyer, none of the blasphemy victims I represented have actually committed blasphemy"); Asad Hashim writes that from 2010 to 2020,
They also complain that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are "overwhelmingly being used to persecute religious minorities and settle personal vendettas", but calls for change in blasphemy laws have been strongly resisted by Islamic parties - most prominently the Barelvi school of Islam. Many atheists in Pakistan have been lynched and imprisoned over unsubstantiated allegations of blasphemy. The state began a rigorous crackdown on atheism starting in 2017, causing conditions to deteriorate significantly. Secular bloggers started facing kidnappings, and the government-initiated advertising campaigns encouraging citizens to identify potential blasphemers in their midst. Further exacerbating the situation, the nation's highest judicial authorities classified such individuals as terrorists.
Cases under the blasphemy law have also been registered against Muslims who have harassed non-Muslims.Attack on Hindus prompts blasphemy case in Pakistan| AP| 30 September 2012| dawn.com
In 2020, the European Foundation for South Asian Studies (EFSAS) in a report entitled, Guilty until proven innocent: The sacrilegious nature of blasphemy laws in Pakistan, recommended wide-ranging changes to Pakistan's laws and legal systems.
According to the International Crisis Group, while in previous decades it was "Islamist hardliners" who lodged blasphemy charges, by around 2022 an environment had developed where "judges, police and private citizens" were "likely to see rewards rather than repercussions for making blasphemy accusations" and it was state court judges, not Islamists, who "increasingly raising the issue".
The U.S.-based Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) released its findings in 2024 after monitoring 24 blasphemy lawsuits for six months during 2022 in Lahore, Punjab. The CJF said 15 of the accused are facing mandatory death sentences if convicted. However, the report said its monitors had noted little progress in most cases, with 217 out of 252 hearings adjourned, leaving many defendants stuck in pre-trial detention.
Laws By its constitution, the official name of Pakistan is the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan" as of 1956. More than 96% of Pakistan's 220 million citizens (2022) are Muslims. Among countries with a Muslim majority, Pakistan has the strictest anti-blasphemy laws. The first purpose of those laws is to protect Islamic authority. According to the constitution (Article 2), Islam is the state religion. By the constitution's Article 31, it is the country's duty to foster the Islamic way of life. By Article 33, it is the country's duty to discourage parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian, and provincial prejudices among its citizens. Under Article 10A of the constitution, it is also the state's duty to provide for the right of fair trial.
Religion-related offences on the territory of modern Pakistan were first codified by the British Raj in 1860, and were expanded in 1927. Pakistan inherited that legislation when it gained independence after the partition of India in 1947. Several sections of Pakistan's Penal Code comprise its blasphemy laws.
Development of Pakistani blasphemy laws During the 1920s, after the assassination of a publisher of a book named Rangila Rasul, published in Lahore, Punjab, the administration of the British Raj enacted Hate Speech Law Section 295(A), in 1927, under pressure from the Muslim community, as a part of the Criminal Law Amendment Act XXV. This made it a criminal offence to insult the founders or leaders of any religious community.The Book on Trial: Fundamentalism and Censorship in India By Girja Kumar. After the creation of Pakistan in 1947, many anti blasphemy laws and clauses were introduced in Pakistan's Penal Code.
Between 1980 and 1986, the military government of General Zia-ul Haq modified the existing blasphemy laws (which had been inherited from the colonial-era Indian Penal Code) to make them more severe, with a number of clauses being added by the government in order to "Islamicise" the laws and deny the Muslim character of the Ahmadi minority. Before 1986, only 14 cases of blasphemy were reported. Parliament through the Second Amendment to the Constitution on 7 September 1974, under Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, declared Ahmadi Muslims as non-Muslims. In 1986, it was supplemented by a new blasphemy provision also applied to Ahmadi Muslims (See Persecution of Ahmadis).PPC S. 295-C, inserted by Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1986 (III of 1986)Cf. e.g. Khurshid Ahmad vs. The State, PLD 1992 Lahore 1 , para. 35 Between 1987 and 2017 at least 1,500 people were charged with blasphemy and at least 75 people involved in accusations of blasphemy were killed in Pakistan according to the Center for Social Justice. According to another source, between 2011 and 2015, "the latest period for which consolidated data is available" as of 2020, there were "more than 1,296 blasphemy cases filed" in Pakistan.
In January 2023, Pakistan's National Assembly passed a vote to tighten the country's blasphemy laws, a move that incited concern among minority groups. These communities feared the enhanced laws could lead to more human rights violations and further persecution of religious minorities. On January 17, the Assembly unanimously approved the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill. This legislation increased the penalty for disrespecting the Prophet Mohammed's companions, wives, and family members from three years of imprisonment to 10 years, in addition to a fine of 1 million Pakistani rupees, equivalent to roughly GBP £3,500.Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Retrieved 2023-04-23 Blasphemy is a capital offence in Pakistan.
Religious offences and punishments Pakistan Penal Code sectionsTypes and description of offencesPunishment§ 298Uttering of any word or making any sound or making any gesture or placing of any object in the sight with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person.1-3 years imprisonment, or Rs 500,000 fine, or both§ 298AUse of derogatory remarks etc., in respect of holy personages. 1980Up to 3 years imprisonment, or fine, or both§ 298B(Ahmadi blasphemy law) Misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places, by Ahmadis. 26 April 1984Up to 3 years imprisonment and fine§ 298C(Ahmadi blasphemy law) Aka Ordinance XX: Any Ahmadi representing themself as a Muslim, or preaching or propagating his faith, or "in any manner whatsoever" outraging the religious feelings of Muslims, or posing himself as a Muslim. 26 April 1984Up to 3 years imprisonment and fine§ 295Injuring or defiling places of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class.Up to 2 years imprisonment or fine, or both§ 295ADeliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. 1927Up to 10 years imprisonment, or fine, or both§ 295BDefiling, etc., of Quran. 1982Imprisonment for life§ 295CUse of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, etc. defiles the name of Muhammad or other Prophet(s). 1986Mandatory Death and fine (Feb. 1990) Trial must take place in a Court of Session with a Muslim judge presiding.
Except for § 295-C, the provisions of § 295 require that an offence be a consequence of the intent of the accused. (See below Sharia.)
§ 298 states:
Anyone who, with the purposeful intent to offend the religious sentiments of another individual, either speaks a word or makes a noise within earshot of that person, or performs a gesture or displays an object within their line of sight, is liable to be penalized. The punishment may include imprisonment of any type for a period that could last up to one year, a monetary fine, or both.
Between 1986 and 2007, Pakistani authorities charged 647 people with blasphemy offences. with one source saying 50% of these were non-Muslims, who represent only 3% of the national population. No judicial execution for blasphemy has ever occurred in Pakistan, but 20 of those charged were murdered.
The only law that may be useful in countering misuse of the blasphemy law is PPC 153 A (a), whoever "by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities" shall be fined and punished with imprisonment for a term that may extend to five years.
On 12 January 2011, Prime Minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani once again said that there would be no amendments to the blasphemy law.
Sharia