Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lahore (Agenzia Fides) - “It is an unjust law that we are asking the government to revoke. It is the measure that should be taken in light of the recent violence against Pakistani Christians. This is why we have launched, through the Justice and Peace Commission, a petition and a collection of signatures, which we will present to Prime Minister Raza Gilani. After the massacre of Gojra, he has already told us he is favorable to its abolition, to protect religious harmony in the country. We hope, therefore, that something will happen. However, it is also true that the majority of the conservative Muslims strongly support the law and are against removing it.” This is what Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha, President of the Pakistani Bishops' Conference, told Agenzia Fides, in commenting on the situation of serious violence and threats that Christians are suffering in Pakistan. The most recent episode has been that of the young Christian Robert Fanish, accused and arrested for blasphemy, killed in the prison in what has been considered “an authentic extra-judicial execution.”
The jail police who had arrested him called it “a suicide in the cell,” but the Christian community calls it a “planned homicide” and accuses the local governors of trying to cover-up the accomplices.
The Bishops' Justice and Peace Commission has called it “a negligence on the part of police and the government,” refusing to accept the hypothesis of suicide. In a statement sent to Fides, the Commission calls for “an immediate investigation to find those responsible, with the accusation of homicide.” “This law against blasphemy, continually taken advantage of, is an authentic catastrophe for religious minorities,” the Commission notes.
“In the last few weeks, on the basis of false accusations and similar circumstances, various Christian buildings in Karachi and in the region of Punjab were attacked. We strongly reiterate the request to abolish this law,” the statement said.
According to information sent to Fides from the Church in Pakistan, in the last 25 years, nearly 1,000 people have been unjustly accused of blasphemy, a large number of them being Christians or members of other religious minorities, as well as Muslims. At least 30 have died and hundreds have suffered greatly in unjust imprisonment, discrimination, and loss of property, after being falsely accused of blasphemy.
The “Law Against Blasphemy” refers to Articles 295 (b and c) and 298 (a,b, and c) of the Pakistani Penal Code. The Code condemns “all those who with words or writing, gestures or visible representations, with direct or indirect insinuations, insult the sacred name of the Prophet.” The sentence includes life imprisonment and the death penalty. (PA) (Agenzia Fides 16/09/2009)
