Blasphemy, Islam & Prime Minister Khan.

Author: Stephen

Posts

Total: 7
Stephen
Stephen's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 8,255
3
2
2
Stephen's avatar
Stephen
3
2
2

Corruption, radicalisation, illiteracy & poverty werejust a few of the problems of Pakistan that Imran Khan promised to tackle and “solve”and the promises that he got elected into the office as Prime minister of Pakistan, on.
Yet in typical fashion of most the world’s politicians heseems to have back slid and made it a “priority” that blasphemy laws will be enforced.
In his maiden speech Khan said he intended to raise the blasphemy issue in the United Nations and wouldwork to achieve a common stand within the 57-nation Organization of IslamicCooperation (OIC).
 
Pakistan, asmany may know, is one of the worst countries in the world if one happens to be Christianand to oppose blasphemy laws is without doubt a death sentence and findingevidence for this one doesn’t have to look no further the case of Asiabibi  and Salmaan Taseer who was  murdered.
 Asia Bibi blasphemy case involves a Pakistani Christian woman, AasiyaNoreen better known as Asia Bibi, convicted of blasphemy by a Pakistani court, receiving a sentence of death by hanging in 2010. InJune 2009, Noreen was involved in an argument with a group of Muslim women withwhom she had been harvesting berries after the other women grew angry with herfor drinking the same water as them. She was subsequently accused of insultingthe Islamic prophet Muhammad, a charge shedenies, and was arrested and imprisoned where eventually a Sheikhupura judge sentenced her to death.
Salmaan Tasseer was a Pakistani businessman and a liberalpolitician who simply asked the court to show mercy to this young girland he was murdered by his own bodyguard for having the audacity to ask such athing for someone who was convicted of “insulting the prophet”.
 
Some Pakistanis had believed they were getting change whenthey elected Khan, but it seems to be a case of – if nothing changes, thingswill remain the same.  His decision to enforce blasphemy laws has been hailed  widely hailed across Pakistan and encouraged in Saudi Arabia. When will these barbaric uneducated backward Muslimssimply grow up and realise that killing someone for being or thinking differentisn’t peaceful or benevolent?  

SkepticalOne
SkepticalOne's avatar
Debates: 9
Posts: 1,720
3
3
7
SkepticalOne's avatar
SkepticalOne
3
3
7
It should be noted, blasphemy laws are not exclusive to Islamic countries.
keithprosser
keithprosser's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 3,052
3
3
3
keithprosser's avatar
keithprosser
3
3
3
-->
@SkepticalOne
I'd say its disappointing, but a lot depends on political realities.   This seems to be a reaction to a deliberately provocative stunt by Geert Wilders to organise a competition of cartoons of Mohammed. 

Like US Republican politicians who can't afford to alienate the religious right, Khan may have felt he had to say something about it to avoid making enemies of religious conservatives.   Nothing in Khan's history indicates that he is a fanatical Islamist,but he has to operate in an environment where islamismism is a powerful force.

SkepticalOne
SkepticalOne's avatar
Debates: 9
Posts: 1,720
3
3
7
SkepticalOne's avatar
SkepticalOne
3
3
7
-->
@keithprosser
Words: FREE SPEECH!
Actions: You're free to speak (and think) as you like...so long as it doesn't challenge our religious beliefs.

Stephen
Stephen's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 8,255
3
2
2
Stephen's avatar
Stephen
3
2
2
-->
@keithprosser
I'd say its disappointing, 

But you haven't condemned Khan's decision to attempt to make blasphemy a crime around the world in the 21st century!. This is odd coming from someone who doesn't even believe in a god. 

 And you haven't even tried to explain the over the top reaction to a cartoon competition in your link that hasn't even taken place.. at all. 

Are you saying that if it wasn't for the idea of a cartoon competition Prime Minister Imran Khan wouldn't have even mentioned blasphemy laws in his maiden speech? 
Khan may have felt he had to say something about it to avoid making enemies of religious conservatives.  
Say something!? You have obviously found the first clip you could find that goes some way to excusing this "disappointing" decision by Imran Khan. What you have glided over and ignored is the fact that he wants to ban blasphemy of islam and muhammad world wide.
So if that be the  case, we are free to mock, criticize and ridicule any other ideology and or religion as long as it isn't islam.

Do you not realise the implications here or are you just defending and apologising for khan and islam?


keithprosser
keithprosser's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 3,052
3
3
3
keithprosser's avatar
keithprosser
3
3
3
-->
@Stephen
There is no prospect of anything coming of Khan's approach to the UN and there is nothing new about it.

Pakistan's blasphemy laws are something Khan cannot ignore - they are an incrediably incendiary topic that has led to several high profile murders and assassinations, particularly of critics of those laws.   Pakistan is religiously conservative and I don't think he would have come to power if he has explicitly repudiated the blasphemy laws.   How sincere his support for them will be revealed by his actions over the next months and years.
 
As I said, his remarks were disappointing. But given the context of Pakistani politics perhaps they are not surprising.




Stephen
Stephen's avatar
Debates: 0
Posts: 8,255
3
2
2
Stephen's avatar
Stephen
3
2
2
his remarks were disappointing

Oh please, stop trying to play down the seriousness of these statements. They weren't  just "remarks" said off the cuff as you seem to be suggesting. These were statements made in his maiden speech as Prime Minister of Pakistan, he has also repeated them to the UN and islamic countries and councils around the world;  he wants a blasphemy law world wide. 

You are obviously not realising the bigger picture here, or you’re simply ignoring it.
It is one thing to pay lip service to the blasphemy law to quell and or appease the extreme Islamic elements in your country. It is another to proactively encourage  these ancient blasphemy laws thereby bringing it into the spotlight and to call on and encourage other Islamic countries to ban cartoons. This is clearly incitement and would be classed as a hate crime should have I called for something similar, for instance - burn the Quran – say. And of course Khan had been playing the blasphemy card long before the suggestion of a cartoon competition:something else you have chosen to ignore.
 
Of course the other quite real possibility is that Prime Minister Imran Khan is not trying to quell or appease the Islamic extremist but actually agreeing with them. If this be the case, then the world has a bigger problem coming from that region than one could ever imagine.

The son of murdered Pakistani MP Salmaan Taseer told the Guardian:-  
“My fatherwas a hero and a champion for change. He wanted amendments in this barbariclaw.
Imran Khan is a coward; he is supporting murderers and mob violence. This law is persecuting people; it is not respecting our prophet.”
 
 
 
 And I will add, there is nothing I Quran that states any type of punishment... in this life.