In an unprecedented move, the Supreme Court of Pakistan has expunged paragraphs from its own judgement from earlier this year in the Mubarak Sani case where it said members belonging to the minority Ahmadiyya community had the right to practice and preach their religion in privacy and bounds of their four walls despite the fact that they are recognised non-Muslims by the state of Pakistan vide the 2nd constitutional ammendment. The apex court bench headed by Chief Justice Qazi Faez Isa himself accepted the review plea filed by Punjab government in the aftermath of charged protests by hardliners, including the proponents of mob violence and vigilantism for blasphamy accused, such as the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party.
The review hearing featured theatrics such as top clerics and representatives of Islamist parties arguing the case, “schooling” the Supreme Court on why they thought it was wrong. And when the Supreme Court accepted their arguments and decided that the Ahmadiyya minority group does not have any right to preach and express their faith even if they do so while presenting themselves as non-Muslims. In the background of this are violent protests and the TLP leaders calling inciting violence against the Chief Justice himself after labelling him and the state as “blasphemous”. Now read the brief backgrounder again and ask yourself how the bare minimum of civil liberties, expressing, practicing, and preaching your faith, could mean a mob lynching death for some in the self-proclaimed Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The state, instead of enforcing its writ and standing behind key state institution, the Supreme Court, has decided to surrender. It has surrendered to a group of Islamofascists, paving the way for an unprecedented regression. As if Pakistan as a state inching closer to its authoritatian and totalitarian ambitions where civil liberties can be encroached upon wasn’t troubling enough, we now have Supreme Court-sanctioned precedence where so much as calling for basic right to practice one’s faith can be labelled blasphemous.
Compare that with a western country: Imagine the outrage if the predominantly Christian countries decided Muslims cannot call themselves Muslims, practice, express, or preach their faith. Such an encroachment in the year 2024 is unimaginable. And yet, that is the lived reality of hundreds of thousands in Pakistan. A development in contravention of what the founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah envisaged. He too would be labelled blasphemer and would be faced with mob lynching for merely stating what did 3 days before Pakistan’s independence.
You are free. Free to go to your temples, mosques, churches or any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed, that has nothing to do with the business of the state. Thank God, we are not starting in those days. We are starting in the days where there is no discrimination, no distinction between one community and another, no discrimination between one caste or creed and another. We are starting with this fundamental principle: that we are all citizens, and equal citizens, of one State.
It’s a development that makes us bury our heads in shame and makes us wonder what is the next civil liberty up for grabs in this God-forsaken country. With the Islamofascists gaining ground rapidly, it’s not all that difficult to imagine what the future of Pakistan looks like.
Pakistan needs progress and not regression. In out-of-touch state apparatus in Pakistan needs to realise that Pakistan needs progress and not regression in order to survive. And progress without civil liberties and a state where everyone is equal is not possible. The state needs to take measures towards creating an environment of tolerance and acceptance — a state where there are no first class and second class citizens. Pakistan needs to butt out of matters of faith of its citizens. It has long allowed itself to constitutionally meddle in by proclaiming to be an Islamic Republic with Islam as the state religion. The contradiction here is that out of 50+ Muslim countries in the world, no other country sees matter of blasphemies as strictly despite the fact that they’re hardly the embodiment of civil liberties and equal rights themselves. Until changes are made that set Pakistan on the path to progess — where clerics and Islamofascists become irrelevant, Pakistan’s future looks bleak.
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