r. Younis Shaikh, a medical lecturer active in the international Humanist and Ethical Culturalist movement, was sentenced to death last Saturday following his conviction in a Pakistan court for violating the country's notorious blasphemy laws.

   Shaikh, 46, allegedly made "insulting" remarks about Islam's prophet Mohammed. Those found guilty of blasphemous statement against the Islamic cult, the Koran -- the Islamic holy book -- or its founder are automatically put to death by hanging. According to the BBC, the guilty verdict came as a shock to supporter of Shaikh whose case had attracted the interest of human rights groups including Amnesty International. Pakistan's blasphemy laws have also come under increased scrutiny and protest. Last January, a mass demonstration organized in the southern Pakistan city of Karachi called for abolition of the statute, and charged that blasphemy prohibitions were used to harass the country's non-Muslim minority.

   "We were expecting his acquittal," said Khadim Hussain of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. "Now a prominent lawyer will plead (the case) in the high court."

   Shaikh is one of hundreds of persons now languishing in Pakistani jails for the blasphemy offense. According to the New York Times, he is the third Muslim convicted under the repressive law. Shaikh was arrested last October after delivering a physiology lecture which included a discussion of practices prevalent in pre-Islamic, 7th-century Arabia. He stated that Mohammad was not a Muslim until his revelation at age 40, and thus neither he nor his family practiced many of the customs associated with the Islamic religious tradition. According to the London Times, "He was also said to have made reference to certain customs of the day such as circumcision and removal of underarm hair."

   A student identified as Muhammad Asghar Khan then complained to the police and a religious vigilance group known as Majilis Tahaffuz Khatm-i-Nabuwat, the Committee for the Protection of the Finality of the Prophethood. (Another account published in Britain's Guardian newspaper last week, states that "A group of 11 students" were behind the original complaint.) On October 4, 2000, Shaikh was arrested and jailed, and in what has become commonplace in the blasphemy crusade in Pakistan, religious hard-liners vowed that they would kill the doctor even if he should be acquitted. Associated Press notes that so far, none of those convicted of blasphemy charges in Pakistan have been hanged on court orders, but "many" acquitted of violating the law were hunted down and murdered by religious zealots.

   Pakistan's present blasphemy statutes were crafted in 1986 during the regime of Islamic strongman General Zia-ul-Haq, although earlier laws date to the nineteenth century and the time of the British colonial system. They defined blasphemy as anything which "by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly" insults Islam and its prophet. In 1992, the law was amended by then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to make blasphemy punishable only by death. Many saw that as a move to placate Pakistan's growing nexus of Islamic fundamentalists and religious terrorists.

   Shaikh was arrested for violating Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code. It is considered a non-bailable offense and carries a mandatory death sentence for those convicted. The statute requires evidence and testimony from "at lest two Muslim adult male witnesses who are supposed to be truthful persons who abstain from major sins." In addition, the presiding officer at any blasphemy trial is to be a Muslim. The testimony of women or non-Muslims is considered to carry less evidentiary weight than that of Muslim males.

   The blasphemy laws have served manifold purposes for the ever-changing leadership of Pakistan. After coming to power in 1979, Gen. Zia became an important "asset" for U.S. foreign policy, especially as an anti-Communist who opposed the Soviet expansion into neighboring Afghanistan. Indeed, Pakistan became an important base of operations for American programs which armed Islamic militants for forays against the Russian-backed government in Kabul. Religious commitment inspired many of the Mujahadeen "Holy Warriors" who found common cause with the Christian West in their battle against godless Soviets or, in some cases, the age-old foe of Russian Orthodoxy. Zia set out to "purify" Pakistani society along religious lines.

   The post-Zia era saw the climax of a long and divisive civil war in Afghanistan, with the fundamentalist Taliban Islamic militia eventually seizing state power -- thanks in part to stockpiles of arms left over from the U.S. - Soviet backed proxy confrontation, and assistance from Pakistan's Military Intelligence Service. Along the Pakistan border, Islamic militants began establishing a sprawling network of "Madras" or religious schools which still produce a steady wave of young, often semi-literate "holy warriors" who dream of the formation of a vast religious theocracy in the region. Another factor emerged as Pakistan -- an overwhelmingly Muslim nation -- began quarreling with neighboring India (mostly Hindu) over the status of the Kashmir region.

   The present military government of Gen. Pervez Musharraf attempted to modify some of the anti-blasphemy laws, but caved-in following threats from religious leaders. Pakistan is also being "Talibanized," with other parts of the legal code reflecting a strong, doctrinal coloration. The country's mass-media is being "purified," with new regulations prohibiting male and female news readers being seen on television together at the same time. Acting Prime Minister Sharif recently told television producers to "clean up" program content, and in the words of one scriptwriter, "promote educational programs suitable for Pakistani culture."

   "The new directives are ridiculous," he said. "They want us to make interesting and creative programs on civic sense, road safety and how to say your prayer."

   Other directive actually prohibit women from blowing bubble gum or licking ice cream cones, or lathering their faces during soap commercials. For many in the electronic era, the new campaign is "like a return to the Zia era." One producer called it "re-censoring."

   With the Pakistan government declaring a religious war on everything from what Mr. Shaif denounces as "long-haired young men" and the "jean-jacket culture" to heterodox thinking, the blasphemy card may become the strategy of choice in trying to appease the country's Islamic religious right. Dr. Younis Shaikh thus becomes the latest victim in a war where the differences between government and religion become increasing blurred, even non-existent.

   Shaikh is not an Atheist, but rather a liberal Muslim who founded a "progressive Humanist" organization known as Enlightenment. He has worked with members of the international Ethical Culturalist and Humanist movements, though, and is a member of the South Asia Peace Movement. At the time of his arrest, he was a physiology professor at the Capital Homeopathic College in Islamabad. An article in the London Times noted that "According to some students and teachers at the college, Dr. Shaikh is a devout Muslim who prays regularly and has a thorough knowledge of the Koran. In a recent interview he declared from his prison cell that he was a deeply religious man and could not even imagine blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad and that his remarks had been taken out of context."

   As for Pakistan's blasphemy statute, critics charge that is being employed to placate religious extremists who increasingly threaten the precarious government of Gen. Musharraf. "The law ostensibly designed to ensure respect for the Holy Prophet of Islam has become, in the hands of unscrupulous men, a weapon of repression and even a weapon for settling petty scores," said I.A. Rehman, director of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

   An international campaign has been launched to free Dr. Shaikh and other victims of the oppressive blasphemy statute.

[text only]