When a cleric (Junaid Jamshed) commits an act construed as blasphemy under Pakistani definition of the term, he is generously allowed to offer public apology and seek forgiveness from God. Likewise when a mulla (Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti) falsely accuses an underage Christian girl (Rimsha Masih) of desecration of Holy Quran and the charges are proved false in the court, he is arrested only to be released later to live as a free man. Rimsha Masih on the other hand is forced to leave the country. When a poor and illiterate Christian woman (Aasia Bibi) is accused of blasphemy by a couple of equally poor and illiterate women, she is arrested and handed down death sentence without given any opportunity to offer apology. The irony is that no one knows what exactly shes alleged to have uttered while the dispute she had with other women that led to this accusation is known to all. When a Professor of English (Junaid Hafeez) in Multan is accused of blasphemy by a local cleric, he is arrested and his lawyer murdered. On a television show controversy involving blasphemy, Junaid Jamshed is given the freedom to offer apology but on another television show controversy involving blasphemy Veena Malik, Shaista Wahidy and others are sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment. Why are clerics given preferential treatment in blasphemy cases while others are hounded and persecuted? Why is a wrongfully accused kid forced to leave Pakistan but her complainant is allowed to roam free? Would Pakistanis wake up to this horrid and horrifying reality of how molvis have kept the society hostage? via Junaid Zuberi
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 03:11:39 +0000