Aid to the Church in Need: Pakistan: Nation in mourning prompts hopes of change in Blasphemy Law

Pakistan: Nation in mourning prompts hopes of change in Blasphemy Law

Posted by Press Release on 14/8/2009, 9:56 am
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ACN News, Wednesday, 12th August 2009 – PAKISTAN

Hope rises from the ashes of despair

A nation in mourning prompts hopes of change in Blasphemy Law

By John Pontifex

UNPARALLELED pubic outrage in the wake of attacks in Pakistan which left eight Christians dead have prompted new hopes of urgent changes needed to protect minority groups – according to the bishop at the centre of crisis.
Since the violence in Punjab Province’s Gojra city, Pakistan’s media networks have given unprecedented coverage of public protests, strikes, prayer-meetings and visits to the affected region by some of Pakistan’s most important political and religious figures.
On a visit to Gojra last Thursday (6th August), Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani announced a review of laws relating to the treatment of religious minorities.
The move prompted some commentators to suggest that he may be considering a review of the Blasphemy Laws, which are widely seen as inciting hatred and bigotry.
The 3,000-strong mob who rampaged through Gojra’s Christian quarter on 1st August responded to reports that children had cut up pages containing verses of the Qu‘ran.
They were accused of inadvertently breaking Article 295-B of the Blasphemy Laws which imposes the death sentence on people defiling the Muslim holy book.
After 10 days in the media spotlight, Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad – the diocese where the attacks took place – told Aid to the Church in Need that this was a rare opportunity for the Pakistan government to introduce changes to the laws.
He said: “This is exactly the right time for the government to review the Blasphemy Laws.
“At any other time, there would be a reaction against it on account of the need to protect the honour of Islam and the Prophet [Mohammad] but now people can see only too clearly the problems the laws cause – especially when they are misused.”
The bishop added: “Of course by itself, changing the law is not enough. We need a sea-change in attitudes so people no longer react so emotionally when they feel their religion is not being shown the respect it is due.
“What we have witnessed over these past days could encourage people to think differently so that they don’t react so emotionally and so quickly and instead give time so that the legal authorities can investigate allegations.”
The bishop underlined the struggle in bringing about “attitude change”, especially after another spate of Blasphemy Law-related attacks over the past few days including the killing of two workers at a leather factory in Muridke town, Punjab.

Bishop Joseph Coutts of Faisalabad

It was quickly followed by another accusation in nearby Sindh province where the house of a 60-year-old Muslim woman was attacked after a shopkeeper accused her of defiling the Qu‘ran.
Bishop Coutts’s comments came prior to the first Day for Minorities that took place in Pakistan on Tuesday, 11th August, which since the 1st August attacks has been designated for prayer and peaceful protests to encourage solidarity with Christians.
The bishop said: “There has been a tremendous response over all – in terms of solidarity and condolence – and this renews our hopes of finding a better future to protect minority groups.”
The bishop has underlined the need to redouble efforts towards inter-faith cooperation, stressing that the ring-leaders for the attacks were extremists, many of them imported from other parts of the country.
It follows reports that among the 200 arrests following the attacks, five were from outside Punjab, including from the Swat Valley in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province, which has become a target for Taliban insurgency.
Meantime, bishops from Lahore, Multan, Karachi as well as Faisalabad have called for the repeal of Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws, backed up by the country’s National Council of Peace and Justice which has organised a petition for them to be overturned.
NGOs, charities and other organisations have also called for the law to be overturned including Aid to the Church in Need.
In a statement, the charity for persecuted and other suffering Christians said: “As long as these laws are in existence, Pakistan is trapped in an ever-deepening cycle of violence, misery and community breakdown.
“The laws’ misuse has meant that they have become an instrument of oppression, a club to beat those who are vulnerable.”
Meantime, Christian schools across the country were closed for several days in an act of mourning and solidarity.

Editor’s Notes:

Directly under the Holy See, Aid to the Church in Need supports the faithful wherever they are persecuted, oppressed or in pastoral need. ACN is a Catholic charity – helping to bring Christ to the world through prayer, information and action.

Founded in 1947 by Fr Werenfried van Straaten, whom Pope John Paul II named “An outstanding Apostle of Charity”, the organisation is now at work in about 130 countries throughout the world.

The charity undertakes thousands of projects every year including providing transport for clergy and lay Church workers, construction of church buildings, funding for priests and nuns and help to train seminarians. Since the initiative’s launch in 1979, 46.5 million Aid to the Church in Need Child’s Bibles have been distributed worldwide.

For more information, please contact the Australian office of ACN on (02) 9679-1929. e-mail: info@aidtochurch.org or write to Aid to the Church in Need PO Box 6245 Blacktown DC NSW 2148. Web: www.aidtochurch.org

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