Muslim vigilantes conspire with authorities to trap Christians

LAHORE, Pakistan – Muslim vigilante groups are working with federal authorities to lure youth into sharing blasphemous content on social media and put them behind bars, a study by Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) has found.

A strong increase of cases of blasphemy According to the NCHR report, many of the charges filed this year against Christians and other religious minorities are linked to a conspiracy between Muslim vigilantes and federal investigators. According to the NCHR survey, Pakistan saw three times as many cases of blasphemy in the first seven months of this year than in the entire year before.

As of July 25, 767 people accused of blasphemy were languishing in jails across Pakistan, while 213 suspects were held for blasphemy in 2023, 64 in 2022, nine in 2021 and 11 in 2020, according to data collected by the NCHR.

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“Most of the blasphemy cases were registered with the Cybercrime Unit of the Federal Investigation Agency in collaboration with a private entity,” the NCHR noted, adding that young men were targeted by entrapment tactics in which women used pseudonyms to trick them into blasphemous activities online to seduce.

At least 594 blasphemy suspects were jailed in Punjab province alone, followed by 120 in Sindh province, 64 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and two in Balochistan province, the NCHR added.

The report follows an investigation by the Special Branch of the Punjab Police, published in January, which revealed for the first time the presence of a ‘blasphemy company’ exploiting the controversial blasphemy laws to trap victims for extortion.

According to the Special Branch report, a majority of cases were brought to court by private ‘vigilante groups’ led by lawyers and supported by volunteers who scour the internet for offenders.

One such group was responsible for the conviction of 27 people sentenced to life imprisonment or death in the past three years, the report found. It recommended that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) conduct a thorough investigation to determine the source of the vigilante groups’ funding, but the agency’s response was unknown.

The most active vigilante group is the Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan, which prosecutes more than 300 cases, led by Shiraz Ahmad Farooqi, the prosecutor in the blasphemy conviction of a 40-year-old Christian woman. Shagufta Kiran. Kiran was sentenced to death by a special judge in Islamabad on September 18.

The NCHR report called for “a comprehensive review” of the roles and accountability of both government and private entities. The inhumane conditions in which blasphemy suspects live in prisons were also noted.

“Individuals accused of blasphemy are housed together in single, severely overcrowded barracks to protect them from potential harm from other inmates who might attack or threaten them,” the NCHR reported. “However, this arrangement results in inhumane living conditions as the barracks have inadequate facilities and are grossly overcrowded.”

Detainees also face coercion, extortion and pressure from the vigilantes involved in their entrapment, “sometimes encouraging them to engage in further criminal activity within the prison,” the report said.

The NCHR recommended involving the highest levels of government and the judiciary to tackle the FIA’s involvement with Muslim individuals and vigilante groups who entrap people. It also urged the establishment of a joint investigation team consisting of officials from the Special Branch of the Intelligence Bureau, the Ministries of Justice and Home Affairs, the FIA ​​​​and other relevant departments to investigate cases of blasphemy.

Mere accusations of blasphemy in Muslim-majority Pakistan can spark public outrage and sometimes result in mob violence. Hundreds of people have been accused and imprisoned for alleged blasphemy, and some were given the death penalty, although no one has been executed so far.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee noted on October 17 that Pakistani authorities have failed to curb a series of human rights abuses, including a sharp increase in blasphemy-related violence. The committee expressed serious concern over the frequent attacks on religious minorities, including accusations of blasphemy, targeted killings, lynchings, mob violence, forced conversions and desecration of places of worship, and stated that Pakistani society has become increasingly intolerant of religious diversity.

“Religious minorities face a constant threat of persecution and discrimination amid the rise of religious radicalism,” the commission said.

Pakistan ranks seventh on the 2024 Open Doors World Watch List of the Toughest Places to Be a Christian, the same as last year.

Originally published on Christian Daily International–Morning Star News