A massive crackdown on an Islamist religio-political party and an announcement by Pakistan's law minister suggest authorities have resolved to make procedural changes to controversial blasphemy laws, sources said.
The goal of such changes would be to prevent people from being falsely accused of blasphemy, which in Pakistan is punishable by death if Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, is insulted.
Blasphemy and accusations of the crime have led to the extrajudicial killings of dozens of people in Pakistan since 1990. Rights groups have repeatedly criticized and called for the reform or repeal of the harsh laws, which date back to the British empire. Other punishments include a fine or prison term, depending on the specific offense.
Federal Minister for Law and Human Rights Azam Nazeer Tarar on Oct. 16 announced that the government was introducing procedural safeguards to prevent misuse of the laws and ensure timely justice by ensuring fair investigation and judicial sensitivity in blasphemy-related cases.
Addressing a national symposium on “Interfaith Harmony and Fundamental Rights – a Constitutional Imperative,” organized by the Federal Judicial Academy and the Law & Justice Commission of Pakistan under the auspices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Tarar highlighted Pakistan’s recent policy and legislative initiatives. These include the Interfaith Harmony Policy, the National Action Plan and the establishment of Minority Protection Cells and Human Rights Awareness Programs, to promote inclusivity and safeguard minority rights.
“Respect for minorities and protection of their rights lie at the heart of Pakistan’s constitution and remain a fundamental responsibility of the state,” the law minister said, according to the Press Information Department (PID).
The latest digital census in 2023 showed that more than 96 percent of Pakistan’s population is Muslim, with the remaining 4 percent comprising 5.2 million Hindus, 3.3 million Christians, 15,992 Sikhs and others.
Reaffirming his government’s commitment to strengthening access to justice for all citizens, Tarar highlighted key constitutional guarantees ensuring freedom of religion, equality before law and protection from discrimination, according to the PID.
“Calling for collective action, the minister urged the judiciary, religious scholars, media and civil society to work together in promoting narratives of compassion and interfaith understanding,” PID stated.
The symposium also adopted a declaration on interfaith harmony that called for integrating interfaith sensitivity and human rights education within the justice sector; strengthening institutional mechanisms for the protection of minorities and the realization of fundamental rights; promoting interfaith harmony, social inclusion, and mutual respect as the foundation of fundamental rights; and upholding the constitutional promise of equality and justice for all citizens.
Commenting on the federal law minister’s statement, Christian parliamentarian in Punjab Province Ejaz Alam Augustine said that one of the key manifestations of extremism in Pakistan was the misuse of blasphemy laws.
“While sacrilege can never be condoned, it is the misuse of these laws to settle personal scores and persecute vulnerable groups that has led to frequent incidents of violence in society,” Augustine told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.
Augustine, who also served as a minister for human rights and minorities affairs in Punjab, said that while the federal government has not yet specified the intended procedural changes in the blasphemy laws, any progress in this regard should be welcomed.
“Calls for reform of the blasphemy laws, and legal safeguards, are by no means a defense of sacrilege,” he said. “For harmony in society, no abuse against the revered figures and scriptures of all faiths can be tolerated, and there can be no room for hate speech. Instead, there’s an urgent need to prevent the misuse of the laws because people have been using false allegations to settle personal disputes and to dispossess religious minorities of their properties.”
Human Rights Watch stated in a June 9 report that Pakistan’s blasphemy laws were being systematically misused to target religious minorities, dispossess the poor and settle personal and economic disputes.
“Blasphemy accusations are increasingly weaponized to incite mob violence, displace vulnerable communities and seize their property with impunity,” states the 29-page report, “A Conspiracy to Grab the Land: Exploiting Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws for Blackmail and Profit.”
In several cases, blasphemy accusations were used to target business rivals or coerce property transfers, according to the report. It added that the law’s broad and vague provisions allow it to be exploited with minimal or no evidence, creating a climate of fear among vulnerable groups.
HRW criticized Pakistan’s criminal justice system for enabling these abuses. Authorities rarely hold perpetrators of mob violence accountable, while police often fail to protect the accused or investigate allegations, it stated. In some instances, officers who intervene face threats themselves. Political and religious actors accused of inciting violence frequently escape arrest or are acquitted due to lack of political will or intimidation.
Ban on Party
In a related development, the federal government on Thursday (Oct. 23) approved a proposal by the Punjab provincial government to proscribe the Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), days after nationwide violent protests over Gaza claimed the lives of several protesters and police officers and paralyzed major highways and city roads from Karachi to Islamabad.
The group, founded in 2015 as a pro-blasphemy laws movement, turned into a political party in 2016. It was previously banned by the former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government in 2021 after violent protests.
The Federal Ministry for Interior Affairs informed the federal cabinet that the 2021 ban on TLP was lifted after six months on the assurance that it would refrain from violence. It added that the current ban on TLP stemmed from its reneging on those guarantees.
Talking to media after the federal cabinet meeting, Minister of State for Interior Talal Chaudhry said that the TLP had acted like an extremist group and violated its prior commitments.
“The federal government had no other option in light of reports submitted by the Punjab government than to ban the party,” he said. “The Interior Ministry had summoned reports from all provinces about the party’s conduct in the past decade regarding its involvement in violence, targeting of minorities, incitement of sectarianism, and other such matters.”
An unnamed senior Pakistani intelligence official said that religious extremism in Pakistan has reached a point where decisive action against extremist individuals and organizations had become unavoidable, according to an Oct. 18 article by Washington-based journalist Jahanzaib Ali in The Friday Times.
“The official shared a striking fact from recent intelligence recruitment drives,” Ali stated. “Thousands of young candidates applied for lower-ranking positions across the country, and the questionnaire included a question that revealed much about prevailing attitudes: ‘Was Mumtaz Qadri’s killing of Governor Salmaan Taseer justified?’ A staggering 95 percent of applicants responded, ‘Absolutely justified.’”
The TLP came to prominence for its vehement support for Mumtaz Qadri, a constable who shot Punjab Gov. Salmaan Taseer in 2011 for expressing sympathetic sentiments towards Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy.
The rise of TLP witnessed a drastic increase in blasphemy cases filed across the country against Christians and Ahmadis, as well as attacks on churches and other places of worship and graveyards. In August 2023, several hundred TLP members ransacked and destroyed multiple church buildings and homes of Christians in Jaranwala, Faisalabad District, Punjab Province, after two Christians were falsely accused of committing blasphemy.
In June 2024, party members lynched an elderly Christian, Nazeer Masih Gill, in Sargodha after falsely accusing him of burning the Quran. The mob also burned the Christian’s house and a shoe factory owned by his family.
Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
