What are the origins of Pakistani laws on "blasphemy?"
score:16
Technically, Pakistan's blasphemy laws are inherited from the British. In the early days of the Raj, the British Parliament appointed a commission chaired by Lord Macaulay to create a comprehensive penal code for British India. Chapter XXV of the resulting Indian Penal Code, adopted in 1860, covers offenses related to religion. The amended IPC was adopted as the Pakistan Penal Code upon independence; it also underlies the basic criminal code of India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and elsewhere.
Two notes must be made, however. First, the nature of Pakistan— an Islamic state or a secular state for Muslims?— has been prominent in domestic political debate since its founding, along with the particular expression and enforcement of its Islamic identity. Indeed, even the constitution, architected in 1973 by the relatively secular-oriented Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, calls for the Islamization of the law, and as prime minister, Bhutto made Islamic studies mandatory in schools and backed a ban on the sale and consumption of alcohol by Muslims.
Second, the Islamization of Pakistani law and society along Saudi lines is attributable to the government of Gen. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. By all accounts, Zia was personally religious and saw Islam as Pakistan's salvation. Saudi Arabia provided generous financial support to Pakistan both directly to the government and indirectly, for example by funding religious schools. Saudi interest in Pakistan increased after revolution in neighboring Iran brought a Shi'a government to power. Zia and the elites of his era were thus close to Saudi Arabia, and no doubt took Saudi advice to heart. Pakistan even sent troops to Saudi Arabia in response to unrest in the south, and hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis to this day find work in Saudi Arabia.
From Zia's coup in 1977 to his death in 1988, Pakistan adopted increasingly strict laws, such as the Hudood Ordinance and the Zina Ordinance. The blasphemy laws were extended with Islam-specific provisions and the punishments made much more severe in 1980, 1982 and especially 1986. Few were actually prosecuted under the Hudooda and Zina provisions, but that cannot be said of the new blasphemy laws. Fewer than 10 blasphemy cases had been filed from Pakistan's creation to the 1986 ordinance; since then, there have been thousands.
Wikipedia offers an overview of blasphemy laws around the world, with the usual caveats about using Wikipedia applicable.
Incidentally there are many critics within Pakistan, including conservative mullahs, who believe the laws are used to settle personal scores and persecute political opponents rather than enforce public morality. Most charges are made against Muslims, after all, not members of religious minorities. But according to the BBC, many Pakistanis mistakenly believe such laws are taken from the Koran. Given the laws' popular support, reform will be low on the agenda for Pakistan's political parties.
More post
- 📝 Any evidence of woman named Claudia being a Welsh princess?
- 📝 Is that true that somebody was punished by the Catholic Church for believing that a fly had six feet?
- 📝 How did the countries devolved from USSR turn from communism to democracy or other ideology peacefully after the collapse?
- 📝 When did Warren Harding say "I am not fit to be president." Why?
- 📝 Were some categories of French-Jewish people treated better by Vichy anti-Jewish laws
- 📝 What was the true extent of German losses at Prokhorovka?
- 📝 Historically, why did the US station their nuclear weapons in Germany for delivery through German pilots?
- 📝 Why are the "Three Musketeers" called musketeers?
- 📝 Pinpointing the date of a globe
- 📝 When did Russia learn about the Philippines and the Japanese and Spanish presences there?
- 📝 An online old style Julian calendar for England?
- 📝 Why did so many Saxons emigrate to England?
- 📝 What authority did the Catholic Church have over European monarchs from 900–1450?
- 📝 Percentage of the draft pool that were conscripted during WW2 and Vietnam
- 📝 Why are the facades of some residential buildings in Paris, France, tilted?
- 📝 What WWII fighter raid did my great-uncle misremember?
- 📝 Where and how did pinky promises / swear originate?
- 📝 Shantyboat communities on the upper Mississippi River Valley
- 📝 Did the Axis engage in trade with other countries during the war?
- 📝 Status of merchants in feudal Europe
- 📝 Why did LBJ, a staunch segregationist, champion and sign the 1964 Civil Rights Bill?
- 📝 What kill ratio would Nazi Germany need in 1945 to win?
- 📝 When did the Babylonian king Amel-Marduk reign?
- 📝 Were kamikaze pilots an effective strategy for Japan?
- 📝 How exactly did Franz Ferdinand hunt?
- 📝 Surviving Tokugawa Family Members
- 📝 Regional dominance of Sitka library
- 📝 Were some groups in the Soviet Union more likely to collaborate with the Germans than others?
- 📝 Why was China not colonized by any country?
- 📝 Did Belgian detectives wear special shoes in 1939?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What are the origins of Pakistani laws on "blasphemy?"
- 📝 What are the origins of sizing a squad in modern foot drill?
- 📝 What are the origins of knife and fork language etiquette?
- 📝 What are the ancient origins of the Medicine Ball?
- 📝 What are the origins of the "News Reel Voice"?
- 📝 What are the origins of the Shinto religion?
- 📝 What are the origins of organized crime?
- 📝 What are the origins of this pendant?
- 📝 What are the origins of Satanism as a religion?
- 📝 What are the origins and history of shaking, trembling, jerking, contorting, collapsing, fainting and similar manifestations in Christianity?
- 📝 What are the origins of the "totalitarian genes" theory?
- 📝 What are the factors that caused the new world civilizations to be less technologically advanced than the old world?
- 📝 Why are there so many laws about eye injuries in the Code of Hammurabi?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 What are the text and subtext of this 1949 Soviet cartoon?
- 📝 What are some Chinese sources testifying the extreme weather events of 535-536 CE?
- 📝 What East German laws and regulations were extended to the West after unification?
- 📝 Who are the three men standing and what are they holding at this University of Paris Doctors' Meeting?
- 📝 What are the primary sources for the Mongol sack of Baghdad?
- 📝 What are the hay effigies in this Japanese movie?
- 📝 What are all fantastic creatures on The Nile mosaic of Palestrina?
- 📝 What are the most comprehensive historical references for ancient India?
- 📝 What (primary) sources are there on the life of female slaves in Classical Greece, more specifically Athens?
- 📝 What are the problems archaeologists face in deciphering the Indus Valley writing?
- 📝 What are those X in top of the flag?
- 📝 What are the "ancient liberties" of the City of London?
- 📝 What were the origins of Etruscan Civilisation?
- 📝 What are the reasons of the ethnical fragmentation of the Caucasus?
- 📝 What are the main reasons historians give for the Soviet Union's collapse?
- 📝 What are the historical reasons for the conventional map orientation?
