Islamabad:
The capital’s Supreme Court has ordered a government probe for accusations that young people are caught in online blasphemy cases after appeals from hundreds of families.
There has been an increase in the case of mostly young men arrested for committing blasphemy in WhatsApp groups since 2022. Rights groups and police have said many are brought to lawsuits by private law firms using volunteers to scour the Internet for offenders.
“The government will constitute a commission within a 30-day timeframe,” said Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan, adding that the Commission is obliged to submit its conclusions within four months.
A report published by the government -controlled National Commission for Human Rights last October said there were 767 people, mostly young men, in prison waiting for trial of blasphemy allegations.
“This is a huge beam of hope, and this is the first time the families have felt heard,” said lawyer Imaan Mazari, who represents the families of arrested men and women, of the judgment.
“Young people have been mistakenly roped in the event of such a sensitive nature that the stigma will last forever, even if they are acquitted,” she added.
A 2024 report from the Punjab police in the sudden increase in cases leaked to the media found that “a suspicious gang found youth in blasphemous cases” and may be motivated by financial gain.
The Legal Commission for Blasphemy Pakistan (LCBP) is the most active of lawyer groups accusing young men in Pakistan. Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi, one of the group’s leaders, told AFP in October that “God has chosen them for this noble case”.
In recent years, several young people have been convicted and handed down death sentences, although no execution of blasphemy in Pakistan has never been carried out.
“We will fully support the probe commission and are convinced that our voices will finally be listened to, our concerns will be heard and the truth will come out,” the reversing of one of the defendants who asked not to be named due to setback told AFP.
With input from AFP
