Today, a very distressing murder incident happened at Peshawar Judicial Complex. A very sad incident indeed, as a human lost his life; irrespective of his beliefs and allegations leveled against him.

It was an extrajudicial killing which took place over the blasphemy issue.  Tahir Ahmad Naseem was shot six times during a hearing in his case at a district court on Wednesday.  Naseem was accused of having violated sections 295-A, 295-B and 295-C of the Pakistani penal code, which deal with blasphemy against Islam, criminalizing, among other things, “defiling the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W)”.

The very incident draws our attention towards myriads of politico-religious issues. First, it allows us to ponder over the grounds, on the basis of which a layman lost his belief in the criminal justice system of Pakistan, and considered it necessary to take law into his own hands. Second, it demands an answer to a question that what sparked him and pushed him to the limit to assassinate a fellow human inside the courtroom in front of all the authorities, despite knowing the grievous consequences that he has to face now.

Actually, the answer lies in the very core belief of Islam which is to love Prophet (S.A.W) above anything in the world. So, Muslims, even of weaker faith do not tend to bear sacrilegious acts. In such scenario, the lack of faith in the delivery of justice in blasphemy-related court cases trigger the sentiment of anger among people, as to this date, almost all of the convicts of blasphemy have been exonerated by the supreme court.

Pakistan inherited blasphemy laws from the British colonial era, which were re-legislated and reinvigorated in 1986 during the regime of unbridled ruler of his times, General Zia-ul-Haqq. From 1986 to 2020, about 1500 people have been charged across Pakistan under the blasphemy laws, and several has been sentenced to death so far, but not a single judicial execution took place in the country. Pakistan maintained the record of not executing anyone under the blasphemy law ever since its introduction in 1986.

In blasphemy issues, it has become a norm in the country that people who have been proven guilty in the lower courts and even in the high courts are acquitted by the Honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan. Moreover, the cases of most of these accused individuals are dealt by law firms and NGOs which usually buy the foreign funded agendas, and when these accused individuals are acquitted, they get asylum in the foreign countries. In my opinion, this too has added fuel to fire and consequently masses have lost their trust in criminal justice system, especially regarding blasphemy cases.

Still, extrajudicial killings cannot be tolerated in any civilized society. The right to penalize or acquit any individual rests with the courts. Any person, community or a group executing this right on its own behalf is highly condemnable.

However, it must be realized that trust and confidence in institutions develops on the basis of just decisions and impartial actionability, which, unfortunately, has waned overtime, as today’s incident is its crystal-clear illustration.