Horrific news of Muslims in Gojra, Pakistan laying bloody waste to the homes of local Christians because someone told them that the Christians had desecrated some pages in a Koran.
At least six are dead, burned alive, mainly women and children according to the BBC.
This part (per the New York Times) just makes it all the worse:
The Punjab law minister, Rana Sanaullah, said that the authorities had investigated the allegation of a Koran being defaced but that “our initial reports say that there has not been any incident of desecration.”
Please, please tell me that this is not the point. Please tell me that this wouldn't have been considered a justified slaughter if a Koran had actually been desecrated.
Permit me to be disappointed. As far as Pakistan is concerned, it may have been legally justified. The allegation of desecration was officially investigated, as though it mattered, and per the AP:
Minorities also face intimidation mainly due to discriminatory laws, including one that carries the death penalty for using derogatory language against Islam, the Quran and the Prophet Mohammad. This law is often misused to settle personal scores and rivalries.
The law is "misused"? There is no way to use such a law but to misuse it. There is no positive, morally justifiable use for laws that allow the state to kill a person for independent thought.
These are the stakes of anti-blasphemy laws. They are no symbolic gesture. This is what willful ignorance and blind adherence to myth-based dogma concerning the desires of the creator of the universe gets us. Someone will tell us that these disputes are really about power grabs by some local militants or some other earthly matter, and that may be so, but only religion--the baseless certainly that one acts in accordance with the wishes of an imaginary, all-powerful, mind-reading space overlord--could have motivated such fury and dehumanization over a book.
Related posts:
- UN Human Rights Council passes resolution to 'combat defamation of religions'
- US media mostly silent on UN anti-blasphemy resolution
- Anti-blasphemy gone wild: Turkey disrupts NATO chief's appointment over Danish cartoon
Comments
Half way through your article, I was thinking, "Why point out this particular "little" freak out by the local rednecks? They're a dime a dozen. You are just stirring the pot." But, in the end, your point hits dead centre, and is invaluable to any hope of improvement in the kind of world we create for the next generation.
For an example of the American Muslim response to such heinous crimes, look here:
www .pakistanlink.com /Community/2006/Feb06/24/03. HTM (remove the spaces)
Unfortunately, it's time for American Muslims to mobilize again and help their Pakistani Christian brethren.
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