Critics of the PTI will assert that the party incites people to carry out their own justice and that the last gathering incited the mob that brutally murdered Maulana Nigar Alam for supposedly committing blasphemy. Whether or not this incident was initiated by the PTI, it is obvious those similar incidents are on the rise and that mobs are capable of administering justice on their own. The murder happened close to where a mob murdered Bacha Khan University’s student Mashal Khan because of allegedly blasphemous Facebook remarks. The incident occurred in Mardan.
After a police inquiry revealed that no blasphemy had been committed, this incident over seven years ago resulted in several accused receiving sentences, including the death penalty, but no punishment has been administered.
The lesson is that it is simple to accuse someone of blasphemy since you know that a mob will back you up and there won’t be any repercussions for your false accusations.
Even the ostensibly non-devout seem to grow passionate when blasphemy is alleged. It appears that the consensus is that it is preferable to be safe than sorry when punishing the blasphemer.
The state’s incapacity to tackle this through its legal system appears to be one of the causes. Such cases are difficult for courts to handle; as a result, a judge on the high court was assassinated for granting bail to a blasphemy suspect and a lawyer was murdered only for defending an accused. The state’s inability to secure convictions is not its only flaw.
Many people who accuse someone of blasphemy have other grievances that would not draw a mob, much less incite it to violence. The legal system has not brought any charges against anyone for making a false accusation. Reforming the blasphemy law is also difficult since political parties want to sidestep it and join the pro-lynching movement instead.
Opponents of the PTI are unlikely to take up this topic, unless possibly incidentally.
Not just with blasphemy trials, but with the legal system as a whole, there is a problem. Instead of turning suspected burglars over to the police for an investigation and subsequent court hearing, mobs have assembled to beat them.
Crowds will disperse if residents have confidence that any person accused of blasphemy that is reported to the police would be looked into and punished by a court, and that anyone who makes a false complaint will also be punished.
However, before then, deaths will occur.
