On Monday, Christians across Pakistan mourned the Gojra tragedy, which led to the death of seven people over the weekend. Hundreds of Muslims, apparently spurred by a banned militant group, stormed a Christian neighbourhood, burning dozens of houses after reports surfaced that some Christians had desecrated a Quran. In response to the attack, the Christian community held protests and insisted that charges of negligence be registered against the Gojra DCO and DPO.
Does the Gojra incident emphasise the fact that the government is finding it increasingly difficult to protect Pakistani citizens from attacks by organised, well-armed groups? What should the government do if the Gojra incident is proved to have been spurred by a banned militant outfit to spark Muslim-Christian riots? Is Gojra an isolated incident, or yet another indication that Pakistani society is becoming increasingly extremist and intolerant?
Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law has often been criticised for breeding religious intolerance. Under the law, the mere accusation of saying or writing something deemed insulting to Prophet Mohammad or the Holy Quran is enough to be arrested and imprisoned. Religious groups see the law as important for the ‘protection’ of Islam, while minority groups see it as an unfair law that is used to intimidate non-Muslims. Since 1986, at least 892 persons have been accused of blasphemy and in virtually every case the charges were completely fabricated. In your opinion, would repealing the blasphemy law help prevent incidents such as the attacks in Gojra?
The views expressed in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
Shame to those who kill the weak and the innocent. The Quran says that whoever killed one human being unjustly, it is as if he killed all mankind. And whoever saved the life of one human being, it is as if he saved all mankind.
Horrible as this incident is, I fail to see the connection between it and the Blasphemy Law. I think the problem is not with the law but with its implementation.
Ideally, the case should first have been taken to the courts, a full trial should have been conducted, and only then should judgement have been passed. That the people took the law into their own hands is criminal, and these people should be tried for murder and manslaughter.
We as a people would have to learn to never to take the law into our hands and to respect judicial procedure.
I am a Pakistani Christian. Today I was traveling on a California highway and I saw a Pakistani Muslim family barely escaped a horrible accident as their car skidded after the loss of left rear tire. The car contained a mom, a dad and three children. They all were visibly shaken after the accident. The mom was dressed in the modest Pakistani garb. The children and the father were dressed in Western cloths and were visibly distressed. I could not go on as a Pakistani Christian without asking if they needed help from me since no one else stopped. I stopped when I safely could and carefully backed my car almost a mile on a dangerous highway to reach them. I used my phone, my towing services and offered my spare tire to help them. They requested and I stayed until help arrived.
I am saddened that so many Muslim people in Gojra were beguiled by a few maulvis to commit acts of terrorism against their Pakistani Christian brothers and sisters.
I think Pakistanis should know how hard it is (especially for minorities in Pakistan) to build lives and homes and properties. They should know that it hurts when a loved one is killed in the evil acts of hate.
Pakistani Muslims and Christians are still Pakistani and their plight is bound together on this earth. Many Pakistani Muslims have been kind to me not because I was a Muslim but because I was a Pakistani.
I am puzzled that a few maulvis were able to entice a large number of Pakistani Muslim people to commit acts of terrorism in this barbaric fashion against innocent Pakistani Christian citizens. It appears that these maulvis think, “might is right”. This was not the Pakistan we knew!
However, I still continue to believe in the good moral judgment of the people of Pakistan. I know that Pakistani Muslims of moral conscience will not let this evil go unpunished.
One more sad day in the short history of Pakistan!
All kind of intolerance is flourishing in the country and unfortunately our so called leader by some how or the other are also airing it. Still is the time, all Pakistani’s should admit that nobody has the right to decide what is right and what is wrong for the others. It is only state law that should decide about it and specially religion is one’s personal matter. I as a Muslim am ashamed of this act and offer apologies for my christian brothers. I will request all enlightened Muslims to promote tolerance in our society and should join their hands to beat all kind of blind extremism. Do we have the courage to do so?
Pakistan = Muslims + Christians + Hindus + Sikhs + Parsis + All Others……
Aik Chaman Ke Phool.
You can make what ever laws that you want; or for that matter get rid of any law. You cannot make people respect each other; respect comes from knowledge and enlightenment, not from just from getting an education. The Christians are and always will be second class citizens in Pakistan, and is per the constitution.
What was perpetrated in Gojra was planned and executed with beastly precision against a poor and defenseless populace; to the extent that the local traders association was involved.
Today it the Christians turn, tomorrow the Shia’s then the Sindhi’s then the Balochis and the list goes on an on
This law should definitely be abolished. The blasphemy shouldn’t even pertain to non-Muslims. If our Prophet never punished anyone for taking against Islam, how can these people take law into their own hands.
As a Muslim, I am not in Favor of this law and it should be taken out of the constitution.
Rid Pakistan of the Blasphemous Laws and punish the cuplrits behind the Gojra violence in public! These laws and Hudood Ordinance have destroyed Pakistan’s social fabric. There should be no two views on this as these charges of blasphemy have mostly been fabricated to target the minorities, who have contributed so much for Pakistan.
How can you justify 295 A, B, C in 21’st century? I most commonly see on the television that Muslim Clerics like Zakir Naik and many more openly criticize other religions. Are they not entitled of any punishment when they are debating against other religions??
Regardless of this intense incidence this is the time to highlight that there are millions of minorities in Pakistan suffering from different kinds of abuse faced in various circles of life e.g. either in work environments, education or civil departments.
How on earth are we (Pakistan) criticizing other countries for not treating Muslim minorities with equality when our own country is not safeguarding the rights of minority?
Pakistan needs a leader who can punish all these horrific extremist groups in the worst possible way to set an example for others to stop and think about what they are doing. And I agree w/ John Bosco that “Am I a Pakistani Citizen? If yes then why am I treated as a 3rd class citizen?” Is this the Pakistan of 21 Century or the 18 century?
I want to say that being a Pakistani and more importantly being a Muslim; they made me feel ashamed of myself. I do agree with Nexus. We must educate ourselves. We must change the course of our thinking. We must sense who we are. We must analyse our deeds with those of what Prophet (PBUH) taught us. And most importantly we must stop producing more and more ‘parrots’ in our society. Did we ever notice what sort of religious pundits we are giving to our society? A boy who is considered to be brainless and stupid in a family, they send him to a Madrissa saying he is not capable of doing anything else and after some time when this boy turns into a young man, he starts imposing his wrong and misjudged ideologies on us which are taught to him again by teachers like him: neglected, abandoned and discarded. This is what the standard we have set for those whom we send to study Islamyaat (Islamic Education). How many of us have learnt Quran by understanding its meaning?? I am living in England and sometimes feel so embarrassed that even these Non-Muslims know more than us what is written in the Holy Quran. They literally laugh on us and mock us. What we know is just to recite Quran, no matter we understand it or not. We think the Hukm is for reciting the Holy Quran no matter whether one understand it or not. We think we will be rewarded just for reciting as many of words in Arabic as we may utter from our mouth.
We must open our minds and hearts to understand Islam. Who is the one given us such authority to kill anyone unheard. The Hukm is, ‘killing of one human being is a killing of all humanity’. The word ‘human’ is used here not the ‘Muslim’. So one may understand how much importance is given to one’s life regardless of being one’s Muslim or Non-Muslim.
As far as the penal provisions contained in Pakistan Penal Code are concerned, they might need to be revised. But before that we must create a suitable atmosphere in our society, otherwise our innocent, I would rather say ignorant, society will again fall prey of so-called Islamic Ulemas and in no time will be ready to carry out genocide without even bothering to know the cause of such chaos.
May Allah help us and open our minds (Amen).
I think that govt. of Pakistan is always responsible for such tragedies, who has given the certificate of blasphemy law to kill the innocent people in the name of Islam. So I think it is very much important to demolish this horrible law (295B-C) for the safety of minorities and as well as for the credibility of Pakistan in the world. And secondly the culprits who are responsible for this brutal act should be punished severely so that in future no body can dare to harm the innocent and faithful minorities of Pakistan.
This is not for the first time that such an incident has happened. It started back in 1940s. Hindus and Sikhs left and we were left with no adversaries. We had to create one and we found the solution to our sickness in Ahmedis in 1953. Then we turned against Bengalis, then came Bauchis and in between we handled the small Sindhi uprisings. We are the hate-mongers, so we have the God given right to kill anyone that comes our way. It is Christian this time, then will be Shiites, and whenever we could find time, we will do the same to Ahmedis.
You just cannot build a healthy society on a heap of prejudices full of vengeance and self-righted religious dogma.
I am ashamed to be Pakistani and I have said this several times before. My heart goes to the Christian community all over the world as it has been going to the followers of all other religious traditions to whom we were very nice. Shame, shame, and shame on me. No one but it is the inside me who was burnt alive yesterday. Does that make all self righteous people happy?
Only solution is our children should be taught all religions in the school and make them secular.
The “terrorist” behind the veils. Yet, another challenge for the Government and the Nation.
According to Print, Electronic media and versions from the eyewitnesses there were veiled persons in the mob that attacked “Christian Town”, Gojra yesterday burning alive persons and creation tension both for public and the Government.
The Police, Administration and the people say they could not be handled. The vital question is, who were they and why they needed to hide their faces while they were protesting the desecration of the “Holy Quran”, thought to be noble cause by the Muslims.
Before coming to the answer of the question it is good to relate this incident with those happening previously which started with the burning of “Shanti Nagar” in February 2009 and later consumed the trust of the people living in Sangla Hill, Bhamniwala, Korian and latest victims were the poor innocent Christians of Gojra.
Situations were created, exploited and used by certain people yet to be identified by the Government Agencies who agitate the innocent Muslims by spreading rumors about the desecration of Quran. By closely observing the happenings this hidden element mingles with the protesters, hide themselves behind veils and uses every aggressive action to take the situation away from the hands of police, administration and the local elders.
The use of chemicals in Shanti Nagar, Sangla Hill, burning of vehicles in Karachi and trains at the death of Benazir Bhutto and now Gojra raises a serious question as to what is the link in all these activities of damaging the society and image of Pakistan.
The second vital question is as to why the police and the Agencies allow the situation to simmer in spite of a very large history of such incidents in Pakistan.
The Law Minister of Punjab and other High Officials have commented that no desecration of Quran took place in “Korian” which led to the burning in both the places.
When is the Nation, Islamic leadership and the Government going to take note of such form of terrorism? How long will it take the Government to establish its writ and would be satisfied by compensating the victims? Is compensation enough to uproot extremism in its present from in order to create a peaceful society that respects the basic human values and rights of its citizens?
I personally ask the Federal Minorities Minister Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti and the Punjab Minorities Minister Mr. Kamran Michael to resign in order to open the eyes of the Government to this bitter reality.
Bishop Ijaz Inayat
Bishop House, Holy Trinity Cathedral
Abdullah Haroon Road, Karachi
Cell 03002120222, e-mail bishop_karachi@hotmail.com
Tolerance in Pakistan remains a myth, equal rights to all citizens remain a dream. No shortcut solutions to this problem. Extremists of all kinds are bad news whether they be Muslim, Hindu or Christian. As long as this psychology remains that killing non muslims is a sure shot ticket to heaven, these problems will persist. We need to educate people, enlighten them in a more tolerant version of Islam. We are victims of our own ideologies where just a few years back young ones were brainwashed into killing hindus across the border to earn some primetime hoors in heaven so preaching people to kill in the name of religion has not really worked out well for us. Please dont radicalize the young ones, instead of having them cram the militant definition of jihad make them decipher the true arms-free meaning of it.
Push has finally come to a shove. Unless the government uses all its machinery to give exemplary punishment to the culprits, it will not generate enough traction for its moderation drive.
May our brothers and sisters in nationality rest in peace. Amen
Eliminate the fanatic mullahs.eliminate the blasphemy law. eliminate the madressahs — the breeding grounds — of fanatical islam. constitution be amended,as a secular one — like our neighbor, india. Friday sermons to be led by liberal imams. state should select the educated & moderate imams for the mosque .good luck till then….
Either blasphemy law should be repealed completely or it should be applicable for blaspheming Christian, Hindu, Parsi and Sikh religions too. The people who take the law in their own hands should be given exemplary punishment.
The under-cover terrorists were able to ignite the moron public to attack the Christian community under the pretext of desecration of the Qur’an.
Some religious leaders and extremist groups are to share the blame of playing a nonsense role.
There has been so much going on with regard to a political unease in the country.
The authorities are trying their best to remedy the problems, but 24/7 an under-cover ongoing unlawful activity is aimed at to further tarnishing the image of Pakistan in the eyes of other global countries.
The hidden hand had been successfully trying to make the Muslims fight against each other. The same hidden forces might have been behind the said irritation to fulfill their nefarious designs.
The provoking, counter provoking and revenge all end up in the loss of precious lives and property.
Our Christian fellows are part of Pakistan and they love the country too. Therefore, it is almost impossible that they would ever burn a copy of the holy Qur’an.
First of all, those who make an issue of every little thing —must take a good look at themselves to make sure whether they are following the rules of Allah SWT. The Muslim is not a complete Muslim unless he or she submits to the will of Allah entirely.
Rage mongering is completely haraam. A mob of Muslims over-reacted highly irresponsibly, and had caused a rift between the two communities.
Whoever is behind all this must be brought in the open.
Under the new judicial policy, the independent judiciary is most likely to deal with the malicious activity in such a way that the unfortunate incidence would never be repeated.
Let us sit back and wait for a happy outcome.
Hi Friends,
Its good to read such views from all of you. Back home in India… any such event will have both sided comments.
The most funny part is that these people, who lay claim to be the followers of Islam, took no shame in doing all sorts of criminal acts in their bid to punish the ‘unholy act.’ And of course, coming to the most important part, the proof for the burning or humiliation of Scripture was never presented, as is always the case – this, now, is a striking trait of nearly all such outbursts, the lack of a substantial proof. This, then, points to one and only thing that the episode is the manipulation of the mob by the religious Mullahs of our societies to wreck havoc upon the ‘bloody kafirs’ only because they are not the adherents of the religion the majority follows – a remarkable manifestation of the ‘with us or against us’, complying perfectly to the Mullah-istic understanding of the concept of tolerance.
The fact is that minorities, in our country, are the most distressed faction of our society – so much for claims of granting equality to them. Even the bitter neighbor holds our fellow Muslim brethern in a better status than that we grant to the minorities at home. Here, nearly no member of the minority makes it to some eminent post in government, none is ever heard to be among the famed personalities of the nation – rather, their position is found among the peons and other holders of such petty jobs. We need to accept the fact that we are the worst hypocrites as a nation, for we even deny the hypocrisy we deploy – and by denying to accept the charge, we of course can never hope for a change to that. And unless change happens, such outbreaks, killings and plunderings in the name of religion and in the command of Mullahs shall only continue in our society.
Our hearts are grieved and sad on this cruel and brutal action of these fanatic people. One can not imagine that in this modern age people can burn some one alive on the name of religion. Our head are down because when we say that our religion teaches us to be toleratent but through our action we show totally opposite. One thing we all should know that our action speaks louder than our words and teaching. Suggestion; in future if we want to prevent this kind of incident. Just to keep in our mind that God can protect us but we can protect God through our filthy action because our good works can be filthy rags in the sight of God.
Exacerbated by religious extremism, ours is a very violent and unforgiving society. All these retrogressive laws one enacted are difficult to be reversed. And the face of Islam we are showing to the world is not a pretty one.
What a shame, at the hands of the Thakadars of Islam. These laws were made, not only to oblige and please Mullahs of Pakistan, but also were made to help, police make money, by blackmailing the innocent poor people of Pakistan. The irony of the matter is, that the cases registered under the blasphemy law so far, were all fabricated, and the worst part is, even the Courts, were scared of doing justice, even in the absence of any material evidence. I also strongly believe, no religion, and the messenger, ever dictated, desecration against any believer of any faith. Even the Prophet of Islam, denounced humiliating the Gods of other religion. Shame to these people, who are practicing the religion which never was practiced by Prophet of Islam.
Dear Readers!
I think Gojra incident should open the eyes of Pakistani people of all faiths they should learn to tolerate all faiths. All human beings of different faiths make mistakes including myself;but your faith, education or social education makes you able to understand the difference between the wrong or Right.All people who are really educated should read the book which they really believe is a book of Faith (Bible, Quran, Tura, Gitta or Social Law for particular country); people should wake up and not read the two thousand years old laws apart from the Holy books which discriminate other human beings of their own race, colour ,or fellow country.
Pakistani people should understand in simple words and give equal rights to all faiths including Christan, Hindus, Sikhs, Marzai, Budasit, Athiest, they could be collectively very productive as Pakistani for the growth your country ,give them the right to call themselves as pakistani, not only by by their religious denomination. Therefore in wake of Gojra incident I would like to request DAWN NEWS paper to please convey my remarks to higher autorties Let the God (ALLAH) to take care of your Religion or Faith do not punish innocent human beings.
The HOLY BOOK QURAN does not carry BLASPHEMY LAW. It was created by dictators for political purposes to save their Governments and made the unstable pakistani society to fight with each other, I also want to add instead of mentioning religion on Pakistani Passport, please give all Pakistanis to call themselves Pakistani in an honorable way. In my opinion as a Pakistani person, people of pakistan do not have a good education opportunity .They should be educated in simple words on Telivision to respect other religions.
Do three things:
(1) Remove “Islamic” from Islamic republic of Pakistan. Having Islamic in the name of the country gives the muslim zealots in Pakistan an excuse to discriminate minorities.
(2) Abolish the idiotic blasphemy law. It is strange that in this day and age, Pakistan has this absurd law that outrightly discriminates non muslims.
(3) Revamp Pakistan’s educational curriculum and teach the students the importance of respecting people who does not share their religion and culture.
It will take at least 20-25 years to see the effect of #3, but that is one of the key long term solutions. Pakistanis have become a joke in the whole world due to their stupidity.