The Sialkot lynching and blasphemy: Why Pakistan is the hell gap it’s

As Pakistan sinks additional into the abyss of Islamism, will it ever rise from the grave and deal with the elephant within the room that ‘blasphemy’ is?
Earlier final week, a Sri Lankan man Priyantha Kumara was burnt alive by a murderous mob in Pakistan’s Sialkot on allegations of blasphemy. Disturbing visuals of Kumara’s physique burning even because the mob gathered round to take selfies and video with the burning man had gone viral on social media.
Note: Disturbing visuals, reader discretion suggested.
With chants of ‘gustakh-e-nabi ki ek hello saza, sar tan se juda sar tan se juda’, fanatics in Pakistan have burnt a person alive after accusing him of blasphemy. The sufferer was a Sri Lankan pic.twitter.com/7S2FDMRTzw— Swati Goel Sharma (@swati_gs) December 3, 2021
The mob might be heard chanting ‘Gustakh e Nabi ki ek hi saza, sar tan se juda, sar tan se juda’ chants. This chant loosely means the one acceptable punishment for saying something audacious about Prophet Muhammad is beheading.
What is unlucky is that this type of barbarity coming from Pakistan has develop into so widespread that it doesn’t shock one anymore. What is even worse is that Pakistan is enjoying down the horrifying incident. Let us analyse Pakistan authorities’s response to this barbarity.
On December 3, 2021, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan referred to the assault on Priyantha Kumara as ‘vigilante attack’.
The horrific vigilante assault on manufacturing facility in Sialkot & the burning alive of Sri Lankan supervisor is a day of disgrace for Pakistan. I’m overseeing the investigations & let there be no mistake all these accountable can be punished with full severity of the regulation. Arrests are in progress— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 3, 2021
The mob that was chanting and calling for beheading of Kumara was ‘vigilante attack’. Khan, very curiously, skipped the half that Kumara was burnt alive on allegations of blasphemy. The police had admitted that the so-called vigilante mob had brutalized and tortured the Sri Lankan man earlier than setting him on hearth. Arman Maqt stated that Priyantha Kumar was crushed to loss of life by the mob on the Wazirabad Road earlier than his physique was set on hearth. The SHO Maqt stated that the police lacked employees and was ‘helpless’ in entrance of the mob of a whole lot of fanatics.
The police stood mute spectator as mob chanting and calling for beheading of a person burnt him alive for ‘blasphemy’ as a result of they had been ‘helpless’. The submit mortem report stated that a lot of the physique of Priyantha Kumara was burnt, and a number of other bones had been damaged because of the torture by the mob.
Here is what Pakistan’s Foreign Minister stated.
The political management & Pakistani nation strongly condemn killing of a Sri Lankan nationwide. We supply our honest condolences to bereaved household, govt & folks of #SriLanka & will guarantee perpetrators are delivered to justice. Such acts don’t have any place in our religion & nation.— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) December 4, 2021
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, too, condemned the ‘killing of a Sri Lankan national’. Like his boss, he, too, skipped the half that Kumara was killed over allegations of blasphemy.
Dictionary defines blasphemy as “the action or offence of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk.” In Pakistan, ‘blasphemy’ is punishable by beheading/being burnt alive, whereas a murderous mob which believes that is simply takes movies and selfies with the burning physique.
Pakistan and blasphemy
Pakistan has stringent legal guidelines in opposition to blasphemy with punishment starting from jail time period to loss of life penalty.
In October 2020, Pakistani bots had determined to boycott French merchandise over French President Emmanuel Macron’s allegedly ‘Islamophobic’ feedback. Subsequently, in a video assertion on the UNGA, Imran Khan tried to justify what was occurring again house. He had stated, “The Prophet lives in our hearts. When he is ridiculed, when he is insulted, it hurts… We human beings understand one thing: The pain of the heart is far, far, far more hurtful than physical pain. And that’s why the Muslims react to this.” 
He additional added that folks from the west don’t perceive the feelings connected to the Prophet. He additionally in contrast the ache suffered by the Jewish throughout the holocaust to the ache induced in Muslims by insulting Prophet Muhammad. Khan had thereby insinuated that killing of non-Muslims is justified in the event that they ‘insult’ Prophet Muhammad as a result of it hurts the feelings of Muslims.
In April this 12 months, staff and activists of Islamist group Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) ran riots in Pakistan on non-fulfilment of 4 calls for it had put up for Imran Khan authorities. The calls for had been initially made in November final 12 months, following the beheading of 46-year-old Samuel Paty by a teenage Jihadi terrorist in France and the following criticism of Islamists by French President Emmanuel Macron. TLP additionally took offence to the show of caricatures of Prophet Muhammad in public in a single metropolis in France.
Islamists in Pakistan had taken to protesting in opposition to the French in Karachi. The former Ameer Allama Khadim Hussain Rizvi had even requested the Imran Khan authorities to launch a jihad in opposition to France. At that point, Imran Khan had stated how there must be a worldwide marketing campaign for extra stringent blasphemy legal guidelines in opposition to Prophet Muhammad. “Inshallah, there will come a time that even in Western countries, people will fear making the mistake the insult the Prophet. A worldwide campaign is needed to achieve this,” he had stated.
As latest as October 2021, not less than 4 Pakistani policemen had been killed after TLP rioters who had been armed with AK47 rifles, working riots on road of Lahore throughout anti-blasphemy protests. TLP, a banned Islamists outfit in Pakistan, has been protesting in opposition to the Charlie Hebdo cartoon depicting Prophet Muhammad and have been demanding expulsion of France’s ambassador and launch of their chief. This was a part of their ongoing protests since 2017. The cartoon was first printed by French satirical journal Charlie Hebdo in 2006. In 2015 January, Islamists led a suicide assault on their workplace for the caricature/blasphemy.
Pakistan: A nightmare for minorities and sane, non-radical people
Tales of atrocities in opposition to non-Muslims in Pakistan are as previous as time. The nation was established on the precept of two nation principle that Hindus and Muslims can’t dwell collectively peacefully. In 1876, Aligarh Muslim University founder Syed Ahmed Khan stated, “I am convinced now that Hindus and Muslims could never become one nation as their religion and way of life was quite distinct from each other.” 
In 1929, Mahashay Rajpal was murdered for publishing Rangeela Rasool, a satirical tackle the home lifetime of prophet Mohammed. Mahashay Rajpal ji in 1912 began “Rajpal and Sons” from Lahore. He would publish Hindi, English, Urdu and Punjabi books on social, political and spiritual matters. The pamphlet was initially printed anonymously beneath the identify “doodh ka doodh aur panee ka panee”. On the floor, Rangeela Rasool had a laudatory tone of Mohammed’s life however on the similar time mentioning uncomfortable truths about his home life.
Muslims of contemporary day Lahore, then part of British India, had been outraged at Rangeela Rasool. When Mahashay Rajpal was acquitted of his costs three years later, Jinnah was upset. In a provocative speech on the Jama Masjid in July 1927 Jinnah warned that ought to the judgement not be reversed, Muslims could be compelled to take the regulation in their very own arms. Even avowed secularists like Motilal Nehru remarked to his son that “the Musslmans of India have all gone mad”.
In 1927, the identical 12 months he was acquitted, there have been two unsuccessful makes an attempt on Mahashay Rajpal’s life — a wrestler named Khuda Baksh attacked him in September 1927 when he was sitting in his store however Khatri Rajpal ji caught him and handed him over to the authorities. Khuda Baksh was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail.
The subsequent month, a Muslim man named Aziz Ahmed attacked Swami Satyanand ji mistaking him to Khatri Rajpal. Luckily, the assault was not deadly and Swami ji recovered after a few months. On April sixth, 1929 a 19 12 months previous carpenter named Ilm ud din stabbed Mahashay Rajpal on his chest eight instances whereas he was seated within the outer verandah of his store. Mahashay Rajpal didn’t survive the assault succumbed to the accidents.
His assassin was defended in Court by Jinnah himself and Muhammad Iqbal, a raging favorite amongst Indian liberals immediately, eulogised him. Today his grave is a spiritual website in Pakistan and Pakistani textbooks eulogize him with the title of “Ghazi”.
In 2011, Pakistani chief Governor of Punjab in Pakistan, Salman Taseer was assassinated for having ‘liberal’ views on blasphemy. Salman Taseer was murdered as a result of he believed a hapless Christian girl shouldn’t be executed for alleged blasphemy. He believed that the girl is harmless of the cost and got here out strongly in her help in public. Except, on 4th of January, 2011, Salman Taseer was assassinated by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri for his place on Pakistan’s blasphemy regulation.
The assassination immediately turned Qadri right into a hero, as one would anticipate from a Jihadist state. He was showered with rose petals as he was dragged into the Court. “Death is acceptable for Muhammad’s slave,” his many supporters chanted.
Qadri had important help from the Pakistani lots. The atypical residents of Pakistan had been baying for Asia Bibi’s blood. Some provided rewards for anybody who might summon the braveness to homicide her, others questioned why she hadn’t been murdered but. Others wept with pleasure when the Pakistani courtroom awarded her the loss of life sentence, the primary girl to obtain the loss of life penalty within the nation. One Maulvi stated, “We had been worried the court would award a lesser sentence. So the entire village celebrated.”
When a seemingly reasonable Salman Taseer determined to place human life above ‘blasphemy’, he paid for it along with his personal life.
Pakistan has develop into much more radical than it has ever been
It has been nearly 100 years to that day and within the 12 months 2021 in Pakistan a person was burnt alive as a result of he ‘blasphemed’. What is unlucky is that the godforsaken nation appears to have reached a degree of no return so far as radical Islamism has involved. We have all seen how Imran Khan, who was as soon as the poster boy of liberals particularly in India for his ‘good looks’ and ‘cricketing charm’, has ended up being a sidekick of radical components within the nation.
When Islamist group Taliban took over Afghanistan, issues turned a lot clear when Pakistanis cheered for the ummah. Over the years, after Taliban regime was toppled by US invasion, it was Pakistan that gave shelter to the leaders of radical group and nourished them in order that when US pulled out of Afghanistan, the Taliban, with bolstered energy, can take over. Pakistan has been harbouring terrorists, a few of who’ve ‘kill the ones who drink cow urine’ as sole objective in life. ‘Cow urine drinker’ is the jibe usually used to seek advice from Hindus as a result of they contemplate cows holy.
The stage of radicalisation is so staggering that now even the Pakistani management is simply too afraid to name out radicals for his or her radical views on blasphemy.
The manner Joker in Batman needed to look at the world burn, Pakistan, too needed to try this until hell got here house and their very own nation began feeling the burn. Which is why it has become the hell gap that it’s.