PAKISTAN In the name of Bishop Jospeh, the battle of Christians against the abuses of blasphemy

25 years after his death, the memory of the Bishop of Faisalabad is the protagonist of an extreme gesture of protest against violence linked to the controversial law. For many he remains a martyr for the faith. Since 1987, more than 2,000 people have been unjustly accused and there have been at least 88 extrajudicial executions. One of the proposals is the formation of a commission to investigate the Gojra massacres in 2009.

Lahore () – With a conference entitled “Aspiration for an inclusive society”, Pakistani Christians yesterday remembered the sacrifice of the then Bishop of Faisalabad John Joseph in the fight against abuses linked to blasphemy laws, 25 years after his death. A leading figure in the Pakistani Church, he is still remembered for his work for justice, peace and interfaith harmony in a country that has often been the scene of violence and attacks against minorities. The meeting was held at the Center for Social Justice (SCJ) in Lahore and included input from experts, activists and academics who pointed out that nothing has yet been done at the legislative level to prevent its misuse.

Despite two amendments being introduced by the Islamabad Parliament in 2004 and 2017, abuses continued and perpetrators, even in cases of extrajudicial killings, more often than not benefited from a general climate of impunity. According to data compiled by the Center for Social Justice, at least 2,120 people suffered false accusations, trials and abuse between 1987 (the year the law was introduced) and 2022, while 88 people who were on trial were killed by fanatics or in arbitrary gestures.

One of the collateral victims of the blasphemy regulations, which punish those who profane the Koran or the name of the Prophet Muhammad (art. 295 B and C of the Penal Code), was Bishop John Joseph. He was a committed figure in the field of human and religious rights and had long fought against fundamentalism and intolerance, especially against discriminatory electoral laws and against blasphemy. To give more strength to his struggle and draw the world’s attention to these injustices, on May 6, 1998, he committed suicide at the entrance to the Sahiwal court (in Punjab), where the trial of Ayub Masih, a Catholic who he was sentenced to death, charged with blasphemy. Although the bishop committed suicide (he had suffered from depression for some time), many members of the Pakistani Christian community consider him a martyr for the faith.

Among the speakers at the conference were Peter Jacob, president of the Popular Commission for the Rights of Minorities (PCMR), who highlighted the “clairvoyance” of the bishop, one of the first to denounce the abuses linked to the law. Wajahat Masood, leader of the Center for Social Justice, who recalled the violations of a “political” nature and the campaigns of violence to “influence” the decisions of the ruling class. However, the state remains “unresponsive” and society largely “unaware” of the cost “of such a distorted policy.” Majid Abel, for his part, praised the “tireless efforts” to build an “inclusive and tolerant society” that knows how to defend “the rights of religious communities”, including minorities. Bishop Sebastian Shaw promised his commitment to “keep his memory and defend his battles”, while Fr. Khalid Rashid Asi stressed that to this day the courts continue to deliver verdicts that do not do justice to the victims or those accused of blasphemy. Finally, Professor Anjum James Paul identified the “problematic” element inherent in having assigned a “religious identity” to the state and the excessive weight given to religious groups to “influence government.”

At the end of the meeting, the organizers presented some proposals to counteract the abuses: modify some constitutional passages that are incompatible with basic rights; establish a commission of inquiry into the 2009 Gojra massacres to prevent further similar cases; criminalize forced conversion; improve the bill of the National Commission for Minorities; fight fundamentalism from schools.