Murder of man accused of blasphemy highlights atmosphere of intolerance

The brutal murder last week of a man accused of blasphemy - by a police constable who had been ordered to guard him while the victim was undergoing treatment at a hospital in the eastern city of Lahore - is another example of the religious intolerance bred in Pakistani society by the country's laws, according to rights activists. Samuel Masih, 27, who belonged to the country's Christian minority, was accused of littering the wall of a mosque in August and was subsequently jailed under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which deals with blasphemy. He was attacked on 22 May by a police constable armed with a brick cutter. The policeman had been assigned to guard him as Masih underwent treatment for tuberculosis at a Lahore hospital. After the attack, Masih was moved to another hospital where he died on Friday. "This is yet further proof of how religious intolerance and discrimination prevails in our society," Samson Salamat, a programme coordinator at the National Commission for Justice and Peace (NJCP), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) working for minorities' rights, told IRIN from Lahore. "It is another example of religious intolerance which is supported by the laws in the PPC," Salamat added. Masih's death was another example of how the blasphemy law, in effect since 1980, could be misused, Joseph Francis, who heads the Centre for Legal Aid, Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS), told IRIN from Lahore. "This is abuse of the law. Samuel was not even put on trial," he fumed. "Sections 295-B and C, and Section 298-A, B and C of the PPC are vague and can be interpreted in ways that cause suffering and death and devastating pain to society," the Archbishop of Lahore Lawrence J. Saldhana told Masih's funeral on Saturday, according to newspaper reports. "The existence of these laws gives rise to injustices. It is usually the poor and the weak who are the victims," he added. Wasim Muntazar, a deputy coordinator at CLAAS, told IRIN that the police had filed a murder case against the accused constable. "It depends on the family [of the victim] whether they want to pursue the case," he said.