Women, blasphemy, and the religious law in Pakistan in the 1920s and 2020s

ABSTRACT

Freedom of religion and the application of blasphemy laws remain critical issues in Pakistan. The issues have deep historical roots in British India, where British administrators attempted to preserve peace between and within religious communities but, faced with growing challenges, occasionally misused such laws. This article juxtaposes the Angare case from the 1920s with that of Asia Bibi in the 2020s. It attempts to illustrate that religious minorities in Pakistan remain vulnerable.

KEYWORDS:

• Pakistan penal code
• blasphemy
• law
• women
• British India
• Asia Bibi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Sajjad Zaheer and Mahmuduzzafar, the writers of Angare, studied in London and gradually drifted towards socialism (Mahmud, 1996, p. 447).

2. Muslim reformers such as Sayed Ahmad Khan from Aligarh (1817–1898), Molana Ashraf Ali Thanavi (1864–1943) of Deoband and Mumtaz Ali from Lahore (1860–1935) evolved a critique of a contemporary Muslim religious social life and British colonial rule. See Gail Minault, ‘Women, Legal Reform and Muslim Identity’ edited in Hasan (1998), pp. 139–58. Islam, Communities and the Nation: M

3. ‘Zanana’ women’s place, from the Persian word ‘zan’, a woman, and ‘ana’, place. It is the part of the house of native women, entirely separated from that occupied by men (Patel, 2002, p. 120; Weitbrecht, 1875, p. 94; 94).

4. The statement was delivered by Winston Churchill and quoted in Fry (2001), p. 437.

5. ‘Pope Pleads for Life of Condemned Pakistani Woman’, BBC News, 17 November 2010, https://bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11777482

6. United States Department of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, International Religious Freedom Report for 2011, available at http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/193145.pdf; M. A. Niazi, ‘Blasphemy Case Shakes the Nation’, published on 3 December 2010: www.pkarticleshub.com; Zahid Husain and Tom Write, ‘Pakistan’s Killers has Revealed Plans’, The Wall Street Journal, 5 January 2011.

7. Mumtaz Qadri Charged with Salman Taseer Murder”, BBC News, 14 February 2011 available on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia.

8. The Express Tribune, 18 January 2013.

9. For detail see Asia Bibi v. The State (available on www.supremecourt.gov.pk)

10. In the book ‘Enfin libre!’ (Finally Free) published in French in January 2020. ‘Finally free’: Asia Bibi breaks silence after Pakistani death row hell’ Issued on: 29/01/2020–21:14 available online https://www.france24.com/

11. Muhammad Sayyid Tantawi quoted in Sookhdeo, Freedom to Believe, 13.