Pakistani TV stars given 26-year jail terms for ‘malicious’ blasphemy

VEENAMalik has expressed her anger and disbelief after she was handed a 26-year jail term by a Pakistani antiterrorism court for “malicious acts” of blasphemy. Her crime? Appearing in a pretend wedding scene, staged on a daytime show broadcast by Geo TV and based on the marriage of the prophet, Muhammad’s daughter.

The programme sparked a wave of controversy in the Islamic country when it aired in May, despite the fact similar scenes had been aired in the past to little or no such public outrage. Some even apparently suspected that Pakistan’s military were behind the mock wedding, and that it was put on in a bid to wage a blasphemy war against the broadcaster.

Malik’s husband, Asad Bashir Khan, and Mir Shakil-ur-Rahman, the chief executive of the biggest media group in the Asian country, were also sentenced to 26 years behind bars for the apparent religious offence.

The show’s host, Shaista Wahidi, was also punished.

“Twenty-six years. Come on. Twenty-six years is a lifetime… But I have faith in higher courts in Pakistan,” Malik said in a recent interview with Gulf News. “When the final verdict comes, it will do justice to me. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

The court order will be enforced in the Pakistancontrolled city of Gilgit, which is also part of the India-claimed Kashmir regions.

As such, it is not considered a proper province by Pakistan, meaning that any verdicts delivered by its courts do not apply to the rest of the county.

“The malicious acts of the proclaimed offenders ignited the sentiments of all the Muslims of the country and hurt the feelings, which cannot be taken lightly and there is need to strictly curb such tendency,” the court order, issued by the judge, reads.

However, Malik may not end up serving her sentence. – The Independent