Islamic scholars in Pakistan push for hate speech ban HRWF comment: HRWF commends this effort by Pakistani scholars to address hate speech in their country. Violence and social hostility against religious minorities continues to be a serious concern for the future of democracy and human rights in Pakistan (see the latest HRWF World Report at hrwf.org). Government authorities, faith leaders and civil society have a clear responsibility to work together to create a secure environment for all citizens to be able to practise their faith openly and safely. The Christian Science Monitor (06.01.2014) - Pakistan’s top body of Islamic scholars is pushing for a crackdown on hate speech in an effort to curb intra-faith violence in the worlds second-largest Muslim country. Last month, 32 groups representing the major Islamic sects in Pakistan signed on to a code of conduct that prohibits hate speech against other sects, restricts the use of mosque loudspeakers, and bans incendiary literature and graffiti. The religious leaders are trying to combat a steady rise in sectarian disputes. In 2012, at least 537 Pakistanis were killed in attacks related to religious sect, a 71 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies. Yet while the effort has been praised for its goals, there is widespread skepticism that it can be enforced. The voluntary code of conduct, announced on Dec. 2, came on the heels of lethal riots in Rawalpindi, a garrison town outside Islamabad. Eleven people died after a procession organized by Shia worshipers ended in clashes with students at a Sunni seminary. Intra-faith violence has continued since the adoption of the code. On Jan. 1, a suicide bomber killed two Shia pilgrims returning from Iran, and on Jan. 3, gunmen killed two senior Sunni leaders in Islamabad. Last month, two suicide bombings at Shia mosques in Rawalpindi and Karachi killed four, and tit-for-tat assassinations left two Shia scholars and a Sunni leader dead. While Sunnis are in the majority in Pakistan, its Shia minority ranks second behind that of Iran. Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, who heads the Pakistan Ulema Council that is pushing for enforcement of the code of conduct, says his own example proves that Islamic extremists can change. Mr. Ashrafi is a former member of Sipa-e-Sahaba, a Sunni group banned in 2002 for its ties to militants. He credits his departure from the group to time he spent with the Tablighi Jamaat, an ascetic movement whose adherents travel to remote communities in order to spark an Islamic revival. “If we dont put an end to such fighting, Pakistan will suffer, and the rest of the world wont be spared either,” says Ashrafi. Adherents to the code agree not to declare others as non-Muslims – usually the first step towards attacking them – and to steer clear of controversial topics. The mosques of Ahmadis, a minority Muslim sect that is routinely targeted by extremists and had no representation among the signatories, would be protected, along with churches and temples. However, the main thrust of the initiative is to dial down hostilities between Muslim sects. Signatories to the code also pledged to hold conferences across Pakistan to promote religious tolerance, and to meet with members of parliament to urge them to put the code into law and to enforce it. Yet the group faces other challenges. Ashrafi himself is no stranger to controversy. He is criticized for continuing to associate with Sunni leaders like Malik Ishaq, who spent the last decade in and out of prison for allegedly overseeing attacks on Shias. “Ashrafi does not necessarily represent the mainstream perception,” says Ayesha Siddiqa, a security expert based in Islamabad. She warns that even if the heads of Muslim groups agree to stop inciting violence against each other, their rank and file is another issue. A series of assassinations in the 1990s gave rise to armed Shia and Sunni groups that have had trouble controlling their members over the past two decades. Sunni militants formed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, and Shias Sipah-i-Muhammad. The Pakista n government banned these groups in 2001, but both still operate. Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility for attacks on Shias in Quetta that killed hundreds last year. This is not the first time a religious code has been adopted in Pakistan. In 1997, in a bid to stem the violence, senior clerics signed on to an agreement similar to the one being promoted by Ashrafi today, but no legislation was ever passed to make it a binding commitment. “The books that were banned in the 1990s are still around” says Ahmed Ludhianvi, head of Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat, the group that formed after Sipa-e-Sahaba was banned.”Just the name of the publisher, and maybe the title, has changed.” Limits on mosque loudspeakers In fact, Pakistan hasnt enforced much of its existing laws prohibiting speech that incites violence. Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, has a 1965 law on its books that prohibit the use of a mosques loudspeakers for anything except the call to prayer and an Arabic portion of the Friday sermon. If that law had been enforced in Rawalpindi last month, said an intelligence agency inquiry into the clashes, the violence could have been prevented. “Implementation is 95 percent of the resolution of the issue, and that is not there,” says Ms. Siddiqa. “You cant just have a few mullahs get together and say they agree...the government has to be on board as well.” Muhammad Amin Shaheedi, the head of Majlis Wahdatul Muslimeen, one of Pakistans largest Shia political parties, says he welcomes the effort to form an agreement among the countrys scholars, but would like to see the government prosecute those responsible for violence. “Even if we sign 50 agreements, it just takes one suicide bomber, one man to come and blow up a mosque or attack a procession, and this agreement cant harm him at all.” i In 1947, 20% of the population were Hindus. Nowadays only 1.7%. ii Ten out of 342 seats in the parliament are allocated to minority representatives. The Jamiat Ulma-e-Islam (JUI) condemns extremism and terrorism. In the last ten years it has been raising its voice for equal rights for minorities, though unsuccessfully. iii Ahmadiyya is an Islamic reformist movement, founded toward the end of the 19th century. Pakistan is the home of the largest Ahmadi population in the world. iv See comment of Article 298-A,B,C at Refworld: refworld.org/docid/3df4be8e8.html (Pakistan: Whether section 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) refers to any offence under religious law or Sharia and, if so, the penalty under religious law or Sharia). Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. “Referring to the text of section 298 of the PPC, a professor of law at Harvard University who specializes in Islamic law stated that, to his understanding, there are other penal provisions in Pakistan which are meant to be declarative of Sharia which carry a much more severe punishment (15 Jan. 2002). According to the professor these provisions purport to enact the old Sharia form of the crime of blasphemy – insult to the Prophet, the Quran, and other holy personages – and allow for the death penalty (ibid.). The professor went on to state that this reflects one form at least of the Sharia crime of sabb al-nabi or insult to the Prophet and, while in the usual circumstances rarely enforced, often carries a death penalty with no possibility of repentance for anyone who was proved to have either spoken words or carried out acts insulting to God, the Prophet, his family, or the angels (ibid.). (…) According to the professor, the offences as described in section 298 are not Sharia penalties per se, taken in any literal way from old books (ibid.). The professor concluded that Pakistani judges do not apply the Sharia directly except insofar as they may refer to it in guiding their interpretation of the laws and insofar as certain higher courts have the power to test the conformity of statutes with Sharia principles and to declare them unconstitutional in the event they fail that test (ibid.). For a description of the use of section 298 and section 295 of the PPC, which compose Pakistans laws on blasphemy, please refer to Amnesty Internationals May 2001 publication entitled Pakistan: Insufficient Protection of Religious Minorities available at amnesty.org/…/008/2001/en/4bce2d66-d95a-11dd-a057- 592cb671dd8b/asa330082001en.html v Blasphemy Law in Pakistan: Historical Perspectives and Disastrous Effects/ Background Resources in Misuse of the Blasphemy Law and Religious Minorities in Pakistan (Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, World Council of Churches (2013) vi Between 1998 and 2005, 647 persons were charged on the grounds of blasphemy. vii More than half of them live in seven districts of Central Punjab : Lahore, Faisalabad, Kasur, Sheikhupura, Sialkot, Gujranwala and Toba Tek Singh.
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 23:05:39 +0000
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