http://tns.thenews.com.pk/reluctant-bystanders-of-blasphemy-laws/#.VryBZhjFuog
"Dr Khalid Masood, former chairman of Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), believes Muslims in Pakistan generally “feel threatened by the minorities. We have in mind that Muslims ruled the subcontinent for many centuries being a minority. So, these issues create insecurity among us against the minorities. In most cases of blasphemy, the crowd demonstrates that insecurity.”
He says since Hinduism was inclusive so there was always a threat that Muslims in the subcontinent could assimilate into Hinduism.
Masood further says, “We adopted a shortcut and termed the new state Islamic before actually defining the role of non-Muslims. And we did not stop here. We went further and defined it on sectarian basis as a Hanafi state.”
Consequently, this empowered the ulema and religious figures to define religion, including blasphemy-related issues. “The ulema know very well that they could not influence a majority of population on political basis. They started using pressure tactics like blasphemy issues to pull crowds and show their strength. They played a very important role in collecting mobs in blasphemy cases,” he adds.
Masood ascribes this to “a serious dearth of religious literacy in Pakistan. Even educated lot of the country thinks that the cleric knows the religion well. So, a majority of people follow them blindly”.
“Our national psyche of fear is also responsible for such abrupt responses on religious issues. It is being said that our country, our religion, and our sect is constantly under threat from foreign powers. We see a blasphemy accused as an agent of such forces. It is so easy to rationalise, externalise, and justify crowd violence over blasphemy issue. One knows that an individual can do anything in a crowd,” Masood adds.
State response to brutalities of such crowds is dismal. Police and security agencies have hardly shown interest in bringing justice to those responsible for spreading violence in the name of blasphemy."
"Dr Khalid Masood, former chairman of Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), believes Muslims in Pakistan generally “feel threatened by the minorities. We have in mind that Muslims ruled the subcontinent for many centuries being a minority. So, these issues create insecurity among us against the minorities. In most cases of blasphemy, the crowd demonstrates that insecurity.”
He says since Hinduism was inclusive so there was always a threat that Muslims in the subcontinent could assimilate into Hinduism.
Masood further says, “We adopted a shortcut and termed the new state Islamic before actually defining the role of non-Muslims. And we did not stop here. We went further and defined it on sectarian basis as a Hanafi state.”
Consequently, this empowered the ulema and religious figures to define religion, including blasphemy-related issues. “The ulema know very well that they could not influence a majority of population on political basis. They started using pressure tactics like blasphemy issues to pull crowds and show their strength. They played a very important role in collecting mobs in blasphemy cases,” he adds.
Masood ascribes this to “a serious dearth of religious literacy in Pakistan. Even educated lot of the country thinks that the cleric knows the religion well. So, a majority of people follow them blindly”.
“Our national psyche of fear is also responsible for such abrupt responses on religious issues. It is being said that our country, our religion, and our sect is constantly under threat from foreign powers. We see a blasphemy accused as an agent of such forces. It is so easy to rationalise, externalise, and justify crowd violence over blasphemy issue. One knows that an individual can do anything in a crowd,” Masood adds.
State response to brutalities of such crowds is dismal. Police and security agencies have hardly shown interest in bringing justice to those responsible for spreading violence in the name of blasphemy."
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