Intolerance hampers blasphemy debate in Pakistan

February 25, 2013 - According to members of a local interfaith group in Pakistan, greater collaboration between moderates in Christian and Muslim communities is key to curbing sectarian strife and resisting a climate of intolerance fueled by politically motivated religious laws. The Interactive Resource Center based in Lahore uses alternative methods for raising contentious issues in an environment prone to suppressing or prosecuting religious dialogue, said its Muslim director Mohammad Waseem. “Intolerance and blasphemy laws are the biggest obstacles in bringing the two religious communities together,” he said. “That’s the reason we are trying to find alternative means like drama to address them, since we cannot openly debate them in society.” Waseem’s comments came during a panel discussion for the first annual Diversity Talk series at Loyola Hall in Lahore, organized by the group, Interfaith Youth in Action (IYA). Despite such forums, little has changed in the application of blasphemy laws. A report issued last year by the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies stated that between 1990 and last year, 52 people – most of them Muslims – were the victims of extrajudicial killings after being accused of blasphemy. The laws date back to the British colonial era but were revised and expanded under Zia ul-Haq, who ruled Pakistan from 1977-1988. During that time prosecutions for blasphemy rapidly increased. President Asif Ali Zardari has acknowledged that the law has been abused and has called on religious leaders of various faiths to work together to make sure it is judiciously applied. Shahbaz Bhatti, a Catholic member of the National Assembly and the federal minister for minority affairs, was assassinated in 2011 over his vocal criticism of the blasphemy law.