Home / News / Urgent Appeals / PAKISTAN: Death threats to minorities by the fundamentalist
 

PAKISTAN: Death threats to minorities by the fundamentalist

April 26, 2001

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

27 April 2001
---------------------------------------------------------------------
UA-13-2001: A Christian teacher accused of blasphemy law
PAKISTAN - Death threats to minorities by the fundamentalist
---------------------------------------------------------------------

We have received reliable information from religious group in Pakistan regarding Mr. Parvez Masih, who has been accused of blasphemy and now faced with grave danger. Blasphemy in Pakistan is an ill-defined offense that carries the mandatory death sentence.

Below is the information about Mr. Parvez Masih’s case, followed by suggested action.

PLEASE PRAY FOR MR. PARVZ MASIH AND FAMILY IN PAKISTAN!

Mr. Parvez Masih is a thirty-five year old dedicated Christian teacher in Sialkot District of Pakistan. He was accused of blasphemy under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code by rival Muslims on 1st April 2001 and now faces the threat of a death sentence. 

For the past fifteen years, Mr. Parvez Masih has been running a reputable private school, Iqbal Memorial High School, in Chailayke village where there are six hundred Muslim families and twenty Christian families. A year and a half ago, a Muslim by the name of Mohammad Ibrahim opened M.I. Muslim High School in the same area. However, due to the high standards and long-standing reputation of Iqbal Memorial High School, it has attracted more students than M.I. Muslim High. Local sources suggest that Mohammad Ibrahim has been devising malicious schemes to force Parvez Masih into closing down his school. His latest attempt was to lodge a complaint of blasphemy with the local police in Daska Saddar.

According to the Christian Liberation Front Pakistan (CLF) the allegation was based on the testimony of three Muslim students, Wakeel Ahmed, Mohammad Bashir and Mohammad Ramzan (all minors). All were said to have told Mohammad Ibrahim and another Muslim teacher Mohammad Sajjad, a close relative of Mohammad Ibrahim, that Parvez Masih had uttered blasphemous words against the Prophet Mohammad during a lesson some two to three months ago. The case of blasphemy was registered against Parvez Masih without due and proper investigation from the police or the Deputy Commissioner of police of Sialkot.

Mr. Parvez Masih is currently incarcerated pending trial. His situation in jail is far from satisfactory. He is under constant threats from the jail authorities and from Muslim inmates. Currently, the atmosphere in Chailayke village is intense and volatile. The Bar Council of Sialkot has announced that any lawyer taking up the case of Parvez Masih would be killed. Extremist Islamic groups in the area, in particular the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba and the Sipah Sihaba, have also declared that those pleading for Parvez Masih and those found helping him would be dealt with severely. The Muslim fundamentalists are also threatening the family of Parvez Masih and the twenty Christians families in the village. An inquiry committee has been formed to investigate the allegations. The committee is comprised of six members, of which none are Christians.

BACKGROUND - BLASPHEMY IN PAKISTAN

Blasphemy in Pakistan is a cognizable offence, punishable mandatorily by death, but Section 295-C does not even precisely define the crime it is meant to punish. This law has a history of abuse: it is a convenient means to settle personal scores. In this case, it is a disgruntled student Mr. Muhammad Asghar Khan who complained to the fundamentalists. Even those not present at the time of the alleged 'offence' can file a complaint - this is the case as regards Dr. Shaikh as a cleric, Maulana Abdur Rafoof, registered the case in Islamabad's Margalla police station. Despite the severity of punishment, Section 295-C empowers a police officer to arrest, without obtaining a warrant from a judicial magistrate.

The Blasphemy law in Pakistan is a shameful relic of the British Raj's 1860 Criminal Law. It was modified in 1926 before Pakistan was born, and again as recently as in 1986 and in 1991 when criminal law was Islamicised by the then dictatorship. Now, under the regime of Islamic punishments, the evidence required is 'at least two Muslim adult male witnesses who are supposed to be truthful persons who abstain from major sins'. It is required at the trial that the presiding officer must be a Muslim. Islamic law of evidence declares that the evidence recorded by minorities and women has a status inferior to that of Muslim men.

In the case of Blasphemy, very often the accused is murdered either in police custody or even in the courtroom itself by bloodthirsty zealots. So few cases are even brought to fruition. General Pervez Musharraf's recent attempts to improve the law have been met with vehement opposition from the clerics, and he immediately climbed down, in deference to the Islamic fundamentalists. The law remains as barbaric as it was. And so is the mob. 

SUGGESTED ACTION 

We request you to write to the Chief Executive of Pakistan expressing your concern regarding this matter. Copies of your letter should be sent to the UN Special Rapporteur listed.

 

SAMPLE LETTER 

Dear General Musharraf, 

I am deeply concerned to hear that Mr. Parvez Mashih has been accused of blasphemy under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code and now faced threat of a death sentence.

First of all, I urge you to guarantee his safety and the fair investigation. Also I urge you to guarantee the safety of members of the Christian Liberation Front Pakistan (CLF) and twenty Christian families, who has been threatened by the Muslim fundamentalists.

In my view, blasphemy law in Pakistan is discriminatory and unjust. Even was this law justified, to access a proper lawyer’s help and fair investigation is a fundamental right for human being. And the Sections of 295-B and 295-C of the Criminal Code should be repealed as soon as possible and meanwhile, I urge you to take steps to prevent their malicious and frivolous abuse.

Yours sincerely,

 

SEND LETTER TO 

General Pervez Musharraf
Chief Executive of Pakistan
Islamic of Republic of Pakistan
Prime Minister House, Islamabad,
Pakistan
FAX: +92 051 920-1893/1835 or 4632
EMAIL: CE@pak.gov.pk
Salutation: Dear General Musharraf


SEND COPIES TO

Ms. Hina Jilani
Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the situation of human rights defenders
c/o OHCHR-UNOG, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: 41 22 917 9006
webadmin.hchr@unog.ch
PLEASE MARK: ATT - SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR HIMA JILANI 

 

Also send copy to Lydia@csw.org.uk

 

*** Please send a copy of your letter to AHRC Urgent Appeals:
Email:
Fax: +(852) - 26986367 

 

Please contact the Urgent Appeals coordinator if you require more information or wish to report human rights violations.
===========================================================
AHRC Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission
Unit D, 7th Floor, Mongkok Commercial Centre,
16 - 16B Argyle Street, Kowloon, HONGKONG
Tel: +(852) - 2698-6339
Fax: +(852) - 2698-6367
E-mail: ua@ahrchk.org

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-13-2001
Countries :
Campaigns :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.