More than life

A life sentence in Pakistan is counted as 14 years. Wajih-ul-Hassan has served far more than that. In 2002, he was condemned to death in a blasphemy case and has remained behind bars since then, for 18 years facing not only imprisonment but also the constant threat of being walked to the gallows. He is now suddenly free. A three judge bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah exonerated Wajih from blasphemy and ordered his release. The court observed there was insufficient proof that he had written blasphemous letters; it had been alleged that at the time Wajih was held, letters had been written to a senior lawyer, Ismail Qureshi. The lawyer had filed a petition before the Federal Shariat Court, asking it to make death penalty the only punishment for blasphemy. The lawyers argued that this had angered Wajih.

The details involved handwriting analysis, the question of Wajih’s religion, the fact that the letters were burnt by the lawyer as he considered them too sacrilegious and other matters. But what is significant is that a man had so many years of his life taken away from him on a charge that he had not committed. There are others in the same situation. Junaid Hafeez, a visiting lecturer in English at the Bahauddin Zakariya University, has already served 12 years in jail without even the first phase of his case before a trial court having been completed. He was accused by a student of committing blasphemy. There are others like Junaid.

To make matters worse, radical television hosts have urged students to capture on video any teacher who utters blasphemy, presumably so that they can be arrested and penalised. There are multiple cases of people being jailed for blasphemy on flimsy grounds, often to settle petty scores or business disputes. It is also true some have been killed in jail or later when returned to their villages after being freed. The situation is an extremely grave one. It is vital the state looks at how it administers the blasphemy law so that innocent people cannot so easily be victimised. The case of Aasia Bibi made international headlines recently. Pakistan needs to review the way the blasphemy law is used in order to spare people so much suffering.