The Parish Magazine March 2022

n Friday
erful youth club on Friday nights in the Ark
to grow and flourish with new young people and
he old faces still coming along each week. In the
he youth have recently made yummy cookies,
kes and jam roly poly, as well as having all the
and games of youth club!
The Persecuted Church
Blasphemy in Pakistan
The Parish Magazine - March 2022 11
By Colin Bailey
uth related ideas, chats or musings, email
ty on: youthminister@sonningparish.org.uk
A church and mosque in Peshawar, the oldest city in Pakistan
Pakistan has the world’s second
strictest blasphemy laws in the
world after Iran, according to the
US Commission on International
Religious Freedom.
Blasphemy is punishable by death in
Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Brunei,
Mauritania and Saudi Arabia. About
1,500 Pakistanis have been charged
with blasphemy over the past 30
years. No executions have taken
place.
However, Islamic extremist groups
are known to attack or kill in extrajudicial
fashion those accused of
breaking the laws. Reports suggest
about 80 people since 1990 have been
killed in Pakistan over claims of
blasphemy.
Christians are targeted, often
after a dispute that concerns work or
tenancy. In many cases, people who try
to help those charged with blasphemy
are also subjected to threats and
violence.
Laws outlawing insulting religion
have existed in the region since 1860
and were incorporated into Pakistan’s
Penal Code at the country’s founding
in 1947. The laws were strengthened
under the military government of
General Zia-ul-Haq (in office 1978-88).
Shahid Khan, dreamstime.com
In 1998, on the steps of a court in
central Pakistan, Bishop John Joseph
committed suicide in a protest of
Pakistan’s strict blasphemy laws. He
had been campaigning for decades to
reform those laws.
A few days prior to his death,
a young illiterate man had been
convicted and sentenced to death for
blasphemy.
In April 2021, the European
Parliament adopted a joint motion
for resolution on the blasphemy
laws in Pakistan, calling for more
comprehensive approaches to address
the abuses of blasphemy laws in
Pakistan. Yet Prime Minister of
Pakistan, Imran Khan, has been
calling for the introduction of
blasphemy laws in other countries.
In August last year, a Pakistani
Christian couple were acquitted of
blasphemy after 7 years on death row
and have left the country.
A Pakistani Christian, who was
accused of blasphemy in May 2017,
was sentenced to death by Rawalpindi
District Court in January this year.
Open Doors asks us to pray that
blasphemy laws will not be abused to
target Christians, and that the death
penalty for blasphemy is abolished
References and further Reading
Aljazeera:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/9/21/explained-pakistans-emotive-blasphemy-laws
Barnabas Fund:
https://barnabasfund.org/news/pakistani-christian-accused-of-blasphemy-sentenced-to-death/
The Conversation:
https://theconversation.com/understanding-the-history-and-politics-behind-pakistans-blasphemy-laws-173570
Deutsche Welle (DW):
https://www.dw.com/en/pakistan-whatsapp-blasphemy-death-sentence-reinforces-dangerous-trend/a-60511046
Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/ewelinaochab/2021/05/26/european-parliament-condemnspakistans-blasphemy-laws/?sh=2e196786344f
Foreign Policy:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/12/08/pakistan-blasphemy-killing-priyantha-kumara-islam/
Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and Law:
http://jaapl.org/content/early/2020/01/24/JAAPL.003916-20
Open Doors: https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/latest-news/pakistan-couple-blasphemy/
We will look at the broader situation affecting Christians in Pakistan in a future issue.