The killing of an arrested blasphemy accused by a mob which tore him from inside a police station in Warburton, Nankana Sahib district, was horrific enough,but it also showed that people no longer fear the police, let alone trust it to do justice to blasphemy accused. The purpose of the blasphemy laws is to prevent private justice, to stop mobs from taking justice into their own hands. However, this matter is still one on which an enraged mob is still able to kill someone who is still merely an accused. The law itself is subject to the protection, of the mob, and it should not be forgotten that Punjab Governor Slaman Taseer was killed for having criticized the blasphemy laws.
The fact that the accused was taken by the mob after it attacked a police station showed that the legal system had failed, not just the law. In the past, blasphemy accused have either been acquitted or have got asylum abroad, with the result that blasphemy accused are seen as certain to escape once they disappear into ‘the system’. However, there is a fallacy in this. The attacks, including the one in Warburton, have been made on the accused, not convicts. Indeed, most times, the accused do not make it into police custody where they would be accused. Perhaps this has to do not merely with the emotions triggered by blasphemy, but also broader problems within society as a whole. Instead of just identifying a suspect and handing him or her over to the justice system, which is supposed to be the extent of the duty of a good citizen, the blasphemy accusers now take it on themselves to come to a verdict, and to execute the punishment personally,
It is perhaps facile to accuse any one stakeholder, such as a political party, of fostering such an attitude. It could be argued that such a party was merely following the requirements of the people, and this attitude vof accusation as conviction was generally prevalent. However, unless society is to descend into chaos, all stakeholders and opinion leaders, starting with those political parties, and including schools and prayer leaders, must work with concentration on developing not just respect for law, but tolerance of variant opinions, within society. The impression that even the judicial authority cannot be trusted depends on its own conduct. If the impression exists that the system does not enforce the law.
