Blasphemy in Pakistan is too scary for even politicians to address

Blasphemy is being used as a weapon by extremists, not only against the so-called blasphemer but against the judiciary too

Pakistan's Asia Bibi is awarded the honorary citizenship of Paris by mayor Anne Hidalgo, on February 25 2020. She had been sentenced to death for blasphemy in 2010. Picture: AFP/THOMAS SAMSONInside a small Lahore courtroom, the packed crowd attending the hearing of a blasphemy case against a Christian pastor is most notable for the absence of hardline clerics shouting insults and demanding the death penalty.

Her release was pounced on by the hardline Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party , which was formed five years ago and gained influence by weaponising the blasphemy issue. A government crackdown ensued that netted thousands of TLP loyalists — a move that Prince’s lawyer, Asad Jamal, credits for the absence of the“The voice of the [religious] far right has been muffled,” Jamal said, adding that the crackdown had sent a clear signal to the extremists who abandoned their courtroom lobbying. But if that lowered the intimidating decibel levels in court, “the feeling of fear is still there” among the magistrates, Jamal stressed.

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