A Pakistani blogger was arrested for blasphemy after writing a poem of sympathy. Following the Kolkata rape case, Asma Batool, a blogger from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, tweeted Salman Haider’s poem about the abuse of women in South Asian countries.
“Khuda, Bhagwan or Ishwar, sab maujood they, jab rape hua (All the gods were witness when I was being violated), read the poem that Batool shared on Facebook. In an Instagram post, she is seen narrating another poem with the caption, “Your country is the same as mine”.
Now the police have picked her up on charges of blasphemy after religious clerics filed an FIR against her for insulting Allah. The FIR was filed against her on 25 August by Maulana Tahir Bashir, president of Ahlus Sunnat Wal Jamaat District in Poonch. Batool’s family has now filed a complaint with the local police, alleging that a mob attacked their home, threatened to kill them, and attempted to set their house on fire over accusations of abandoning their faith.
Visuals on social media also show a mob led by local clerics asking her family to disown Batool or face social ostracism.
Mob led by a local cleric is threatening and harassing the family of Asma Batool, a social activist detained on blasphemy charges in Abaspur, #AJK. They are demanding that the family disown their daughter or face social ostracism. 😢😢 pic.twitter.com/m5WSciv7cj
— Muhammad Zubair Chaudhry (@zchodhury) August 26, 2024
Activists across the country are now demanding her release and removal of the fabricated charges against her.
“Asma Batool…has been arrested for blasphemy charges for sharing a poem on her social media. Aap maane ya na maaney, this is Pakistan” (agree or disagree, this is Pakistan), journalist Sabahat Zakariya wrote on X. “And this was inevitably going to be Pakistan when you aroused communal sentiments for secessionism instead of advocating for negotiations within a mixed polity.”
Asma Batool, an activist from Pakistan-administered Kashmir, has been arrested for blasphemy charges for sharing a poem on her social media. Aap maanayn ya na maanayn, this is Pakistan. https://t.co/mKskCe39t7
— Sabahat Zakariya (@sabizak) August 27, 2024
Batool has actively raised her voice against the oppression of minorities in Pakistan on social media. Her YouTube channel has videos of her celebrating Holi and talking about the people of Kashmir.
Social media users are both concerned and curious.
“Can’t wait for them to discover Iqbal (Allama Iqbal) and how “blasphemous” he gets. This is disgusting and I seriously can’t begin to see how we can ever reverse it,” a concerned user wrote on X.
Human rights activist Gulalai Ismail too condemned Batool’s arrest and wrote, “Blasphemy law is the new sedition law; a tool used by the civil-military establishment to punish dissent.”
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws
Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, which ban derogatory remarks about the Prophet Muhammad and can lead to severe penalties, have sparked significant controversy. Since 1947, at least 89 people have been extrajudicially killed over blasphemy accusations, including notable figures like Governor Salman Taseer and Minister Shahbaz Bhatti.
As of early 2021, around 80 people were imprisoned on blasphemy charges, with many facing life sentences or the death penalty.
“The increasing use of blasphemy provisions to jail and prosecute people for comments made on social media is a dangerous escalation,” Human Rights Watch wrote in its 2024 report on blasphemy cases in Pakistan.
In January 2023, Pakistan’s National Assembly passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Bill, which increased the penalty for disrespecting the Prophet Muhammad’s family from three years to 10 years in prison, plus a fine of 1 million Pakistani rupees. This move has raised concerns about worsening human rights abuses and increased persecution of religious minorities.
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Source: The Print
