I am informed by some neighbors that Alishba and her family have relocated to Lahore, fearing for their safety, in the wake of threats and pressures to drop charges against those who attacked her. There are about 35 Christian and 10 Muslims homes in the locality of Rana Town, Dargahi. Alishba is not the only Pakistani Christian who happens to have been accused of committing blasphemy, and as such facing a sword dangling above her head in the form of the Blasphemy law that has come to characterize the woes and grief of virtually all minorities in Pakistan.
According to the annual ranking of Peoples under Threat produced by Minority Rights Group International (MRG), Pakistan has consistently been one of the top 10 countries where ‘large-scale violence’ is the greatest.
She is sitting with her four children on a charpoy, weeping, deeply shaken and fearing for her and her family's safety
When I finally manage to locate her she is found sitting with her four children on a charpoy, weeping, deeply shaken and fearing for her and her family’s safety, as she narrates the details of the incident to me. The experience has left Alishba profoundly traumatized and there is very little that she can do about it. Her haplessness is disturbing.
“I lived in the Dargahi Christian Colony and worked as a domestic help in several houses, also doing beautician work on a regular basis. Like any other day, on the afternoon of 19th November 2014, I was on my way home after picking up my children from school when I heard Mahjabeen and Rani Begum loudly calling me from behind. I used to work in their home. There were some outstanding charges which they owed me for my work, and I had time and again demanded those payments, however it was on that specific afternoon that Mahjabeen, a 19 year-old-girl began preaching to me and urged me to accept Islam, in order to put an end to my ordeals as a Pakistani Christian. Upon my refusal a heated debate ensued and it all turned quite serious.”
It has become a common occurrence with the extremist fringe to exploit laws to perpetrate tyranny against minorities over alleged blasphemies. In March 2013, an agitated crowd set 100 Christian homes and their scriptures on fire, in Joseph Colony, over an alleged incident of dishonoring of the Prophet (PBUH).
“Violent attacks against religious minorities occur against a backdrop of legal and social discrimination in almost every aspect of their lives, including political participation, marriage and freedom of belief. These double standards are not in line with Pakistan’s international legal commitments and provide a broader enabling context for a climate of near impunity for targeting by extremist groups”, says Ahmad Salim, senior research advisor for religious diversity and education at Sustainable Development Policy Institute Islamabad.
While working at their home, Mahjabeen’s brother Mubeen would harass her frequently, and after this debate over conversion the family threatened to strip her naked in the bazaar, however Alishba did not really believe that they were serious in all their viciousness. According to Alishba, they stopped her in the middle of the chowk, and grabbed her by her hair till she fell down on the road. Mahjabeen called both her brothers, Mubeen and Muneeb, who came and started beating her up and stripped her naked. They used pipes and sticks to beat her while her little kids pleaded with them not to beat their hapless mother. Many people witnessed this incident and later two women, Rehana Faiz and Shamim stepped in and covered her body with a piece of cloth, soon after which Alishba became unconscious.
She was taken to a hospital for immediate treatment and after getting discharged from the hospital went to Ferozwala Police Station in Sheikhupura, seeking to register an FIR against her attackers and tormentors. When the police raided their house, the gate was locked and the family had escaped. Alishba continues, “Later in the night they filed a blasphemy case against me and since then the case has taken a new turn with all aspects of the crime being attributed to me instead. I had done nothing. My dignity was assaulted in the most brutal and demeaning manner. I was beaten and inhumanly stripped naked in broad daylight. Due to constant threats I had to leave my house and have become a displaced refugee while the culprits have not even been arrested yet, forget about them being tried”.
This scene is also etched firmly in Rehana Faiz’s mind, one of the women who helped Alishba, “It was a shameful act with a woman. Justice is a rare commodity in this country, the behavior of the police and court is still prejudiced, while the culprits move about freely.” While police only added that the case is in the court and that they cannot comment.
According to Aslam Pervaiz Sohatra, Chairman Human Liberation Commission Pakistan, “There was no mention of Section 354A of the Pakistan Penal Code in Alishba’s case. Section 354A reads: “Whoever assaults or uses criminal force against any woman and strips her of her clothes and in that condition exposes her to the public shall be punished with death or with imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine”.
There are tremendous barriers in access to justice with cases relating to religious minorities. The victim has to pass through a number of difficulties with constant fear and threats during the whole legal discourse. The weak have little recourse to fair treatment in Islamic Republic of Pakistan.