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Non–Practicing Muslims – People's Youth Organisation Country Advice Pakistan Pakistan – PAK35675 – Muslims – Liberal Muslims – Non–practicing Muslims – People’s Youth Organisation – Blasphemy laws – Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal 7 December 2009 Please provide information on the following: 1 The situation of non-believers in the major cities in Pakistan; blasphemy laws and their application. A search of the available Tribunal resources has failed to provide statistical data on the number of non-believers in the major cities in Pakistan. The US Department of State 2009 International Religious Freedom Report of 2009 indicates that the death penalty is applicable to those found guilty of defiling Islam or its prophets: Freedom of speech is subject to "reasonable" restrictions in the interest of the "glory of Islam." The consequences for contravening the country's blasphemy laws are death for defiling Islam or its prophets; life imprisonment for defiling, damaging, or desecrating the Qur'an; and 10 years' imprisonment for insulting another's religious feelings. Some individuals bring charges under these laws to settle personal scores or to intimidate vulnerable Muslims, sectarian opponents, and religious minorities. Under the Anti-Terrorism Act, any action, including speech, intended to incite religious hatred is punishable by up to seven years' imprisonment. Under the act, bail is not to be granted if the judge has reasonable grounds to believe the accused is guilty; however, the bail provision of the law is selectively applied. Any speech or conduct that injures another's religious feelings, including those of minority religious groups, is prohibited and punishable by imprisonment. In cases in which a minority group claimed its religious feelings were insulted, however, the blasphemy laws were rarely enforced, and cases were rarely brought to the legal system. A 2005 law requires that a senior police official investigate any blasphemy charge before a complaint is filed. According to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), this law was not uniformly enforced.1 However, there is no information in this report which indicates that a lax Muslim falls under this category: There are no legal requirements for an individual to practice or affiliate nominally with a religious group (See Footnote 1) The following article provides information on the case of a Muslim who belonged to a prominent humanist organisation and who in the course of teaching a class made controversial public comments for which he was arrested: 1 US Department of State 2009, International Religious Freedom Report – Pakistan, (Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom. Legal/Policy/Framework.) 26 October – Attachment 1. 1 Blasphemy is a capital crime in this volatile Islamic nation … Accurate crime statistics are a low priority here, but the number of those imprisoned on blasphemy charges is estimated in the hundreds. Only the most sensational cases get much notice: when vigilantes murder the accused, or the bold judge who set him free. When a man is condemned to die if a few pages in the Koran are torn. When a newspaper is shut down after publishing a sacrilegious letter. Dr. Shaikh is charged under Provision 295-C of the law: the use of derogatory remarks about the holy Prophet Muhammad. Whether such an offense is intentional or not, the mandatory punishment is death. ''Please understand, I am a deeply religious man,'' Dr. Shaikh said recently, professing his Islamic faith through the tight wire mesh of a jail cell. A short, rumpled man, he had the weary look of someone trying to rub a disturbing dream from bleary eyes. ''I cannot even imagine blaspheming our holy Prophet, peace be upon him.'' Few Pakistanis have heard of Dr. Shaikh, but news of his woes has leapt the borders, flitting across the Internet. He is associated with the International Humanist and Ethical Union, which describes itself as an ''umbrella organization for humanist, rationalist, agnostic, skeptic, atheist and ethical culture groups around the world.'' In 1999, he gave a presentation at the World Humanist Congress. Pakistan may have an ample supply of free thinkers, but free speakers have long been on the wane. Governments -- civilian or military -- tend to imprison opponents. Federal laws enforce a mix of mosque and state, and questions of religion are often presumed to have a single right answer, like arithmetic. ''Before saying anything in this country, you must always be aware of the forum, the place and the time,'' said Afrasiab Khattak, head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. ''If accused of blasphemy, you are in great difficulty. The mullahs are not known for their generosity. Even if exonerated, you will always be in danger.'' Dr. Shaikh was a member of peace and environmental groups)2. Mr Shaikh was subsequently set free, following a campaign for his release - in this letter of 1 February 2004, he maintains that he is a loyal and law- abiding Pakistani, Muslim by birth, a medical doctor and college teacher, I was an innocent victim sentenced to death on false and fabricated charges under the infamous Pakistani Islamic blasphemy law, 295-C of the Pakistani Penal Code. I was convicted on mere suspicion, and trumped-up allegations of utterances I was supposed to have made at a lecture that did not actually take place. My accusers were mischievous fascist fundamentalist mullahs who did not hear or witness anything themselves. They were aided by Pakistan’s ultra-corrupt and high-handed Islamic Police. My lawyers were subjected to mafia-style harassment regarding their children; with the Pakistani Taliban demonstrating their power with verbal violence outside the trial court. 3 The following RRT Research Responses address related issues: Agnosticism/Atheism RRT Country Research 2003, Research Response PAK16319, 5 December (Qs 1 and 3) Apostasy RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response PAK31648, 18 April (Q1-2 treatment of converts – state protection – Q3 blasphemy laws) Blasphemy laws RRT Country Research 2007, Research Response PAK31648, 18 April (Q3 converts) 2. Bearak, Barry 2001, ‘Death to Blasphemers: Islam’s grip on Pakistan’, The New York Times, 12 May- Attachment 2. 3 ‘From Younus Shaikh: Thank You!’ 2004, International Humanist and Ethical Union website, 1 February - http://www.iheu.org/node/1007 -Accessed 25 November 2009 – Attachment 3. 2 RRT Country Research 2006, Research Response PAK30768, 6 November (Q5 liberal Muslims – Q6 charges – NWFP) RRT Country Research 2005, Research Response PAK17182, 3 February (Q1) RRT Country Research 2000, Research Response PAK14388, 3 November (Q2 Ahmadis) 2. Please provide information on The People's Youth Organisation – its ideals, links to political parties, and the treatment of members/supporters. This article of 27 December 2008 states that the People’s Youth Organisation is the youth branch of the current ruling party: PPP [Pakistan People’s Party] activists here in a function held in connection with first death anniversary of late PPP chairperson Benazir Bhutto called for investigation into the suicide bombing-cum-firing incident at Liaquat Bagh that took the life of the popular political leader of the country. The function was held under the auspices of People's Youth Organisation (PYO), youth wing of the party here at Peshawar Press Club on Friday.4 Information on the PPP is contained in this analysis of the Political Handbook of the World of 2009: People's Party (PPP). An avowedly Islamic socialist party founded in 1967 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the PPP held a majority of seats in the National Assembly truncated by the independence of Bangladesh in 1971. Officially credited with winning 155 of 200 assembly seats in the election of March 1977, it was the primary target of a postcoup decree in October that banned all groups whose ideology could be construed as prejudicial to national security. Bhutto was executed in April 1979, the party leadership being assumed by his widow and daughter, both of whom, after being under house arrest for several years, went into exile in London. After having briefly returned to Pakistan in July 1985 to preside over the burial of her brother, Shahnawaz, Benazir Bhutto again returned in April 1986. The PPP won a sizable plurality (92 of 205 contested seats) in the National Assembly election of November 1988, and Bhutto became prime minister. The party lost ministerial control with Bhutto's dismissal in August 1990; its legislative strength was subsequently cut by more than half in the election of October 24 and 27 (for which it joined with a number of smaller groups to campaign as the People's Democratic Alliance—PDA). It regained its plurality in the 1993 legislative poll, with Ms. Bhutto being reinstalled as prime minister. In December 1993 the PPP's Executive Council ousted Prime Minister Bhutto's mother, Begum Nusrat BHUTTO, as party cochair. The action was the product of estrangement between the two over the political role of Benazir's brother, Murtaza Bhutto, who had returned from exile in November to take up a seat in the Sindh provincial legislature and who in March 1995 announced the formation of a breakaway faction of the PPP. Murtaza died in a firefight with gunmen in September 1996. Following the ouster of Prime Minister Bhutto in November, her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, was charged with complicity in the killing. The new PML-led government formed an “accountability” department to investigate the allegations and corruption in general, a principal target being the PPP leadership. Meanwhile, Benazir Bhutto was meeting with leaders of smaller opposition parties, which ultimately led to the formation of the PAI alliance in February 1998. Earlier, at the end of 1996, allegations about the death of Murtaza Bhutto had led his widow, Ghinwa BHUTTO, to form the Pakistan People's Party (Shaheed Bhutto), or PPP-SB, to challenge Benazir Bhutto's hold on the party. The subsequent national legislative campaign in early 1997 contained an added element of personal hostility between the two women, although both suffered disastrous defeats in the election.
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