pakistan is a terrible place. It's worth recording that since 1990, 65 persons have been lynched to death by vigilantes who feel that Isalm is insulted. Things were not bad earlier but the blasphemy law brought in by General Zia Ul Haq has vitiated the atmosphere. A student of the Wali Khan university in Peshawar was accused of blasphemy and beaten to death with planks until his skull caved in and he died. Sadly, this took place on the university campus. The Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif was seized by this incident and in a press release said, "The nation should stand united to condemn this crime and to promote tolerance and rule of law in a society," Unfortunately for the student Mashal Khan and similar people like him, these are only words and nothing has happened in Pakistan to reassure people that the rule of law will prevail.

This can be gauged from the fact that no cleric was ready to do the last rites of the murdered student. In fact, two clerics were ranting against the student in the mosque until they were picked up by the police

Deathwish

Pakistan is in the throes of a deathwish and along with terrorist attacks, a growing intolerance has pervaded the society. The Pakistan government itself has had a hand in adding oil to the fire by announcing that blasphemous content will be removed and anybody caught will be severely punished. Some people and students who killed Mashal Khan have been arrested but one can be sure that nothing much will happen, To date, not a single person who carried out such killings has been punished in Pakistan.

One shudders for the people who live in Pakistan.

Mashal Khan

From all accounts, Mashal Khan was an inquisitive and intelligent student. He talked about incest from the time of Adam and Eve on his Facebook page. This incensed some people and some university employees egged on the students to attack Khan. Six employees have been arrested by the police but one doubts that anything will happen to them.

One is pained that Pakistan has degenerated to near anarchy, unlike neighbor India. Both the nations inherited a common law from colonial days when the British ruled India.

Last word

The Blasphemy law in Pakistan needs to be modified. This will require a concerted action by civil society. The situation is terrible when one thinks that even the Punjab governor was shot dead by his bodyguard as he was against the blasphemy law and wanted it repealed.