EGN NEWS DESK
A church chief in Pakistan is pleading with world leaders to take motion after a Christian man died of his accidents 10 days after being attacked by a mob over alleged blasphemy.
Nazir Gill Masih, who was in his seventies, was attacked on 25 May in Mujahid Colony, Sargodha, by a mob accusing him of blasphemy.
Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) stated the allegations in opposition to Masih have been “doubtful” and that non secular minorities in Pakistan have been “beneath growing menace from flagrant misuse of the nation’s infamous blasphemy legal guidelines”.
A Catholic bishop instructed ACN that except the regulation is modified to make false blasphemy accusations an offence, Christians and different minorities won’t ever really feel protected in Pakistan.
Bishop Samson Shukardin, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, stated that many Christians are illiterate and would subsequently be unlikely to deliberately commit blasphemy.
He urged the authorities should take motion to cease false accusations and violent mobs from terrorising victims, their households and neighbours.
“It is essential that laws is launched whereby these discovered to have wrongly accused folks of blasphemy are given sentences together with jail phrases,” he stated.
Blasphemy in Pakistan carries a most penalty of life imprisonment or the demise sentence, however Christian and different human rights teams have warned that the legal guidelines are continuously abused.
Death sentences for blasphemy have historically been overturned by the courts however the appeals course of typically lasts years, during which time the accused is pressured to stay behind bars. Even after being launched, they threat being attacked and even killed by extremists.
Bishop Shukardin stated that the failure of the authorities to deal adequately with blasphemy-related violence in opposition to Christians within the Punjab’s Jaranwala district final 12 months had emboldened the weaponisation of blasphemy legal guidelines in opposition to harmless minorities.
“Until the federal government is serous and makes legal guidelines to guard the minorities, particularly the Christians who’re the foremost minority in Punjab, the state of affairs concerning misuse of blasphemy laws will solely worsen,” he stated.
“We are usually not asking for something that’s in opposition to the nation of Pakistan. We are merely asking for the safety of our lives and the lives of our households.”
He stated that overseas stress was the one option to drive Pakistan to behave to finish the “alarming” improve in persecution in opposition to Christians and different minorities in Pakistan.
“Generally, while you see what number of incidents have taken place, you start to grasp that these incidents are growing day-to-day,” he stated.
Nasir Saeed, director of CLAAS-UK, which gives free authorized help to Pakistani Christians dealing with false blasphemy accusations, stated he was “deeply saddened” by Masih’s demise.
“This barbaric act highlights the extreme penalties of the misuse of blasphemy legal guidelines in our nation and serves as a stark reminder of the pressing want for reform in Pakistan’s blasphemy legal guidelines,” he stated.
“As a human rights activist, I’m profoundly distressed by this mindless lack of life and the violence that preceded it.
“The Pakistani authorities should take instant and decisive motion to forestall such tragedies sooner or later.”
He added, “The demise of Nazir Masih is a tragedy that ought to by no means have occurred. It is now the duty of the Pakistani authorities, with the help of the worldwide neighborhood, to make sure that his demise just isn’t in useless.”
