wfn.org | Churches complain as Pakistan government backtracks on blasphemy law

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Note #5922 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

31-May-2000
00220

	Churches complain as Pakistan government backtracks on blasphemy law

	by Anto Akkara
	Ecumenical News International

THRISSUR, India - Pakistan's military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has
changed his mind about amending a controversial law on blasphemy against
Islam which is strongly criticized by Christians and other religious
minorities in Pakistan.

	Christians have accused the general of giving in to Islamist groups which
have brought pressure to bear to prevent any change to the blasphemy law.

	The sudden U-turn by Musharraf, who seized power last October, has led to
deep disappointment among the three million Christians in this mainly Muslim
nation of 135 million people.

	Musharraf and other government officials said only last month that the
blasphemy law - which has formed the basis of criminal charges against
Christians - would be modified to end abuses of the law. On April 21,
Musharraf announced that the law would be changed so that blasphemy cases
could be registered only after inquiries about the veracity of the complaint
by a deputy commissioner of police, who is in charge of several police
stations.

	But the general's decision to backtrack means the head of any police
station still has the authority to register FIRs (First Information Reports)
under the blasphemy law that provides for mandatory death sentence even for
unintentional blasphemy against Islam.

	In recent years, several Christians have been sentenced to death for
blasphemy, but their convictions have been overturned by higher courts. 
However, two Christians whose convictions for blasphemy were overturned on
appeal were subsequently murdered.

	Speaking on his return from a visit to Turkmenistan, Musharraf told a press
conference on May 16 in Pakistan: "As it was the unanimous demand of the
Ulema [Muslim clerics] and the people, therefore, I have decided to do away
with the procedural change in registration of FIR under the blasphemy law.

	"No one can even think of changing it [the blasphemy law]," said the
general.  His remarks were reported by "The Dawn," an English-language daily
newspaper in Pakistan.

	The announcement followed a declaration by several Muslim fundamentalist
groups, led by the Milli Yekjehti Council which unites various Muslim
organizations, vowing to oppose changes to the blasphemy law.  The Muslim
groups are also making other demands, including the restoration of Friday, a
Muslim sacred day, as the weekly holiday instead of Sunday which was made a
holiday under the former government of prime minister Nawas Sharif.

	"The Easter joy [among Christians over possible modifications of the
blasphemy law] is gone.  The government has bowed down to the moulavis
[Muslim clerics]," said Victor Azariahs, general secretary of the National
Council of Churches of Pakistan.  Describing the "backtracking" by the
military regime as a "setback to the Christian community," Azariahs told ENI
in a telephone interview from Lahore that "they [Muslim clerics] put
pressure on the government.  They have got what they wanted."

	Cecil Chaudhry, a Catholic and secretary of the National Christian Action
Forum - an ecumenical body supported by the NCCP and Catholic groups to
campaign for an end to discrimination against Christians - told ENI that
Muslim fundamentalists had launched a similar concerted campaign in 1990
when the government of Benazir Bhutto tried to amend the sweeping provisions
of the blasphemy law.

	He added that the prospect of changes to the blasphemy law had united
splinter Muslim groups.  "But for the campaign, they would have remained
divided," said Chaudhry.

	But, he added, "Our demand has been always for repeal of the law itself." 
The Christian community needed to mount a determined campaign against the
law.

	Boney Mendis, a Catholic priest and director of the Development Center in
Faislabad, told ENI that the Christian community was "doubly disappointed,"
first by the proposed amendments – inadequate as they were – and then by
their withdrawal. Mendis, who had been a close associate of Bishop John
Joseph, the Catholic bishop of Faislabad who killed himself in May 1998 to
protest against the law, expressed regret that the government "is not strong
or determined [enough] to stand by its decision [to change the law]."

	The blasphemy law, he said, was "hanging like a sword on the heads of
Christians.  So we want the total repeal of the law."

	Azariahs told ENI that the Christian community would continue to work for
repeal of the law.  But the task would not be easy, he said.

	Human rights groups are also highly critical of the government's change of
heart.  The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), a non-governmental
organization set up by human rights activists, said the "retreat" by the
chief executive was "alarming."  The HRCP said the decision showed the
"hollowness" of the military regime's commitment to human rights and human
dignity.  "There is now a clear danger that the so-called religious [Muslim]
parties, puffed up on their present success, will want to keep the momentum
going.  They have a long list of demands."

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