Another one of these. Another murder to defend a long dead “prophet” against another putative insult. There’s a bit of “political correctness” for Sam Harris.
A policeman in Pakistan hacked a man to death for allegedly making derogatory remarks about the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, police said, just two days after a Christian couple was lynched over blasphemy in the same province.
It’s understandable though. The guy wouldn’t stop.
The man, Tufail Haider, 55, was taken into custody late on Wednesday in the city of Gujrat after a group of people allegedly overheard him making the remarks, beat him up and handed over to police.
“Officer Faraz Naveed brought him to the police station and sent him to lock-up. Haider did not stop using nasty words about Sahaba (the companions) despite warnings from various officials,” said police officer Khurram Shehzad.
“At around 5.00 a.m., Naveed could not control his emotions. He went into his cell, brought an axe, entered the lock up and hit Haider’s throat several times.”
And that was the end of Haider.
Blasphemy charges, even when they do go to court, are punishable by death in Muslim-majority Pakistan. They are hard to fight because the law does not define clearly what is blasphemous.
Even presenting the evidence in court can sometimes itself be considered a fresh infringement.
Pakistan’s minorities feel that the state fails to protect them, and even tolerates violence against them.
Because it does, and it does.
Ah, yes, the ever-popular lynchings. Who needs courts and laws when you’ve got a nice sharp axe and a full head of righteously indignant steam worked up?? Surely we can trust such decisions to individuals, so long as those individuals are sufficiently devout O_O
It reminds me of this exchange from the classic “Black Adder II” British comedy series (the “Head” episode), wherein Our Heroes are trying to figure out how to avoid execution themselves once the queen discovers they prematurely executed a prisoner who was pardoned by her at the last minute:
>How about if we get Lord Farrow’s head and body and we take it to the queen, except, exc-ept just before we get in, we start shouting and screaming, and then we come in saying “We were just on our way when he said something traitorous and so we cut his head off in the corridor just to teach him a lesson”.
>Pathetic! Absolutely pathetic! Contemptible! Worth a try O_O
>Well, I’ve got the body my lord and I see you’ve got the head.
>Yes but look it’s no good Percy, no-one’s ever going to believe we’ve just cut it off, it’s gone green! We’re doomed.
It’s only funny in British period comedies, in other words O_O
Pakistan is horrible place.
Back in the late 60s it was a magnet for western tourists because the country really does have a lot of natural beauty.
Today tourism is dead in the water.
#1:
Yes, this kind of barbarism is funny in British comedies, if nowhere else. The part where quoting what the blasphemer said when presenting evidence in a blasphemy trial could be blasphemy itself is right out of the “saying Jehovah” scene from The Life of Brian.
–Officer, I heard my neighbor saying `f— Muhammad!`
–You’re under arrest!
–No, it was him……
–But you said `f— Muhammad` too…[both kill each other]
“Pakistan’s minorities feel that the state fails to protect them, and even tolerates violence against them.”
‘Tolerates?’ How about ‘sponsors!’ Mumbai has already gone down the memory hole.