The country’s principal blasphemy law is vague and liable to misuse: Rights activist

Since 1990, more than 62 people have been extra-judicially killed in blasphemy cases, according to Islamabad-based Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS).

But the principal blasphemy law – Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code – is vague and hence liable to misuse, says prominent rights activist IA Rehman.

For example, what is meant by defiling the name of Prophet Mohammed is not defined at all though Islamic texts, quite a few of which are carried in judgments by the Shariat Court, carry a long list of the forms a cognisable insult could take.

The matter has been left to the discretion of police officers at the time of registering the complaint and some grounds used by them to invoke Section 295-C have been found to be ambiguous.

Advocate Ismail Qureshi, under whose advice a bill was moved in parliament in 1986, and on whose petition the Shariat Court declared the death sentence mandatory under Section 295-C, has himself presented a case for changes.

Retired judge Fakhruddin G Ebrahim, one of Pakistan’s most respected legal minds, says judges have wide powers to interpret the law.

The judge can take the plea a law has not been passed by the competent authority or that it is in conflict with fundamental rights assigned in the Constitution, he said.

He added the quality of the judiciary is poor as it has always surrendered to authority.

Contrary to the belief that judges are under pressure, Ebrahim said many judges who pass the death sentence do so because of their religious state of mind and less out of fear for their safety.