I’ve come by this story originally from the Associated Press, about the use, abuse and potential for reform of Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws from one of my friends on the gab.ai platform, Paula ( @XxPLWxX ). She wished well all those who wanted to reform or remove this disgraceful and oppressive law but said: “Good luck with that. They’re a bunch of fecking nutters over there. “

I’m afraid Paula is correct. They are a bunch of nutters in Pakistan, or more specifically a bunch of Islamic nutters and it is sadly unlikely that the Pakistani government could do anything about the problems that Islam has caused even if they wanted to. This is because the problem of Islamic extremism may be too deeply embedded in Pakistan to easily dislodge it from its positions of power and influence.

The AP article states that Pakistan is under pressure both from the United States of America and from internal dissidents to reform or repeal Pakistan’s overarching blasphemy laws. These laws need reform or repeal as the are often being used as weapons by Muslims to oppress members of Pakistan’s minority Christian, Sikh and Hindu communities and to attack those from heterodox Islamic groups such as the mostly peaceable Ahmediyya group.

The Associated Press piece led with the well-known and sad story of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman who was sentenced to death for blasphemy after she ‘defiled’ a Muslim’s drinking vessel by drinking from it. The article then went on to outline some of the potential sanctions President Trump’s administration could impose on Pakistan. These sanctions could be put in place in order that Pakistan deal with the massive amount of Islamic extremism that is hosted in Pakistan and which not only the basis for the oppression suffered by Pakistan’s religious minorities, but is also supplying terrorists which continue to destabilise neighbouring Afghanistan.

It is to be hoped that pressure exerted against Pakistan on the issue of Islamic extremism could also make things much better for Pakistan’s non Muslims and Muslim dissidents. This is because if the core problem of Islamic extremism was tackled then some of the power that Islamic religious leaders have over the mobs they whip up against Christians, Ahmedi and others.

I must admit that taking the political and economic ‘big stick’ to wave at Pakistan is long overdue. Pakistan has in the past talked good words about their ‘battle’ with extremism and about human rights in Pakistan, but the situation there continues to deteriorate. Many have suspected that the Pakistani government has dragged their feet over dealing with the problems that the country has and this might have something to do with the sheer power that the Islamic theological psychopaths have within Pakistan. It was Islamic religious extremism for example that saw the country’s constitution modified to exclude the Ahmadi Muslims from describing themselves as Muslims and which has further degraded the religious rights of one of the few truly peaceable sects within Islam. The result of Pakistan’s ongoing Islam related problems has meant that little seems to have really been done about the social, legal, political and spiritual mess that Pakistan is in. Pakistan is a prima face case of how Islam degrades a nation, especially when Pakistan is compared to it’s larger neighbour India.

The influence of Islamic religious ‘scholars’ and rabble-rousers and the Pakistani government’s collusion with certain extremists has not little to either improve the human rights of Pakistan’s religious minorities or deal with the massive Islamic extremism problem that both afflicts Pakistan and the other nations to which Pakistani Islamic militancy is exported to.

The problem of oppression by blasphemy law is absolutely horrendous and I would not wish my worst enemy the experience of living as a religious minority under Pakistani religious bigotry. It is thoroughly appalling and the situation for Pakistani religious minorities never seems to get better, only worse.

The blasphemy laws in Pakistan are all encompassing and chilling. The slightest perceived ‘slight’ by a non Muslim or a heterodox Muslim can be picked up by Muslims and amplified by the Imams and their readily available mobs of violent thugs. In innocent comment could be taken the wrong way by an orthodox Muslim and either arrests by the state or mob violence or both could be the fate of anybody in Pakistan who is alleged to have ‘offended’ Islam. These blasphemy laws are also being used as weapons to settle personal scores attack others for personal gain.

Kathy Gannon writing for The Associated Press said:

Opponents of the blasphemy law say it has turned into a force corroding Pakistani society, feeding extremism, implicating the justice system in radicalism and ultimately undermining rule of law.

Often the law is used to punish rivals in personal feuds. Just making an accusation is enough to convince neighbors or others in the community that the defendant is guilty and must be punished, whipping up a vengeful anger even if the courts find the accused innocent. Authorities are often too afraid to push back against the public fury. In at least one case, officials have kept a man acquitted of blasphemy in prison, fearing riots if he is freed.

Militant groups have embraced the law, using it to cultivate support and attack those who try to break their power.

“It has become much more dangerous over the last few years. The reason is that they have created a sense of fear,” said Zahid Hussain, a political analyst and the author of two books on militancy in Pakistan. “It has become a ready tool not only against non-Muslims, but also against Muslims, who do not agree with their world view.”

The opponents of Pakistan’s blasphemy law are correct. This law is corrupting Pakistani society and has created an environment of fear among Muslim and non Muslim alike. This law needs to be either reformed or repealed as it brings the judicial and policing systems under the influence of Islamic extremists.

I’m pleased to see that President Trump’s administration is being a bit more tough on Pakistan’s problems with extremism and religious freedom than either the Obama administration was, or Her Majesty’s Government currently are. However, I’m not that hopeful that meaningful change can occur in Pakistan on the issue of minority religious rights. This is because the Islamic nutters as Paula puts it, have enough power to make things very difficult for any Pakistani government that tries to reform or repeal this oppressive law.

Welcome as these new moves against Pakistan are, we should not celebrate change in Pakistan before it happens. There is an awful long way to go before the extremists and their fellow travellers are stripped of their temporal powers to abuse non Muslims and free thinking Muslims.

It is Islam itself that has created the shithole that is Pakistan. It is a country built on Islam from its very foundation, and the effects of this cursed foundation stone are plain to see. They can be seen in the violence, the economic sluggardliness, the bigotry and intolerance along with the oppression of those who think or believe differently, that afflict Pakistan and will do until they realise that it is Islam and only Islam that are the heart of Pakistan’s problems.