The oft-repeated statement of the government of ‘not allowing this soil to be used for terrorism’ is losing its impact. Each day begins with the uncomfortable feeling of an impending maelstrom. When the day ends that uncomfortable feeling is full-blown and made real. And not looking forward to yet another day becomes a constant physical anguish.
The average person does not matter. The average person’s security is meaningless. “We don’t count. It’s only the president and his team that count. It’s their security. The police and the law enforcement agencies are for their protection. Not ours!” exclaims a meaningless, average person.
That is what the majority of the 97 per cent of the Muslim population feels. The remaining three per cent minority hardly counts, considering the insecurity felt by the majority.
Take a walk down the rutted alleys of Basti Saidan Shah in Lahore and the fear among the Christians living there would be too tangible to be ignored. They feel unprotected, exposed and at the mercy of the state’s law enforcing agencies. The death of one of their community members, Samuel Masih, has once again shown them how vulnerable their status on this soil is.
Samuel Masih’s death might not be a matter of national security for the government. But it is a matter of minorities’ insecurity at the hands of the police. “Can you imagine that the very people who are supposed to protect you turn around to kill you? I’ll say that Samuel Masih was murdered and the state is directly responsible for it because he was in judicial custody on blasphemy charges,” states Mr Cecil Chaudhry, a national hero and a leading human rights activist. Investigating into Samuel Masih’s death revealed how laws enacted by the state were used hand in glove by its machinery to terrorise the minorities. The role of the police in implicating Samuel Masih on trumped up charges of blasphemy, under section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), could not have been more deplorable. Evidently, lack of police accountability in previously similar cases had emboldened them enough to deal with blasphemy cases on ad hoc basis. But since the time of the Zia ul Haq period, when these Blasphemy Laws were legislated, every successive government’s reluctance to repeal them has also helped to turn these laws into weapons of terror for the religious zealots.
Using legislation as a means, the death of Samuel Masih can be termed as state-sponsored terror. On May 28, 2004, Samuel Masih, a 27-year-old small time, daily wage-worker, earning a living by painting houses, died at the General Hospital in Lahore. Dr Bashir, who had operated on Samuel before he lapsed into coma, reported the cause of death as severe head injuries by a blunt instrument. Four days earlier Samuel had been rushed to the General Hospital from the Gulab Devi Hospital where he was under treatment for tuberculosis. He had been hit on the head while in judicial custody by an off-duty constable, Faryad Ali.
“According to the FIR filed against Samuel, he was accused of blasphemy under section 295, which carries the maximum penalty of two years. He had not been charged with sections 295 (B) and (C). His murder was preplanned because the constable was not on duty and was carrying an instrument used to split bricks. Clearly, he had come specially to kill him,” says Mr Saleem Sylvester, president of the Christian Organisation for Human Rights.
Faryad Ali, under arrest now, was not allowed to comment neither was it possible to talk to DIG Tariq Saleem Dogar, in charge of the Samuel Masih case. Mr Dogar was simply not available to render his version.
Counsel for the deceased, Pervez Aslam Chaudhry, said that at the time Faryad Ali hit the deceased with the blunt weapon, there were four policemen on duty who did not bother to prevent the crime. “I have already presented three submissions before the court which were admitted. Under section 109 of the PPC, I think, the other four policemen should also be implicated,” asserts Mr Pervez Aslam.
Drafted by the police and some religious fanatics, Samuel Masih’s tale of horror dates back to four years when he was first falsely implicated in dacoity. Coming from an extremely poor family, Samuel’s second biggest disadvantage in this society was his total devotion to Catholicism. “He was a fanatic Christian which might be a major reason for the police to pick him up,” implies Mr Sylvester. He was taken to the Race Course Police Station and brutally beaten. A year later, the police picked him up again on some pretext to the Civil Lines Police Station where he was unbearably tortured for 20 days. Some people of Basti Saidan Shah think it was Samuel’s extreme commitment to Christianity which irritated many, making him a prime target for other religious extremists.
Upon his release from the Civil Lines police custody, Samuel had no interest in life. He was physically incapable of earning a living and spiritually tormented to fight against the inevitable. Somewhere, deep down he knew his end was nearing — he was on the local police’s watch list. It would not take them too long to get him involved in something else. He tried to commit suicide in a church, but was saved just in time by a priest.
Samuel disappeared for two years. Nobody knew where he was. In 2003 he decided to start life afresh and contacted his old contractor for work. He started work at the Bagh-i-Jinnah’s building which was to become his last contract before death.
When the Imam of Bagh-i-Jinnah’s Darul Islam Masjid, Maulvi Yaqub, found out that a devout Christian had been sent to work as a painter, his fury forced him to think of an opportunity to implicate Samuel. Maulvi Yaqub did not have to think hard. Samuel’s history with the police made it easy for the mosque’s Imam to accuse him of blasphemy. On August 23, 2003 an FIR, under section 295, was registered against Samuel Masih. He was accused of desecrating the Holy Quran by tearing its pages in Bagh-i-Jinnah’s toilet!
He was locked up in a cell at the Kot Lakhpat jail in Lahore. A few months later he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. After rotting there for nearly nine months without trial, he developed severe tuberculosis. But the jail authorities did nothing for his treatment. It was only when his condition worsened this year in May that he was taken to the Gulab Devi Hospital.
It was there, in the presence of four policemen that Faryad Ali gave Samuel that lethal blow on the head.
“It happened on May 24, the day of Samuel’s hearing before the court. When we heard of the attack we went straight to Nasirabad Police Station to register an FIR against Faryad Ali. Sub-inspector Rana Jaffar told us that an FIR against him had already been registered but refused to show it to us. He said that it was confidential and sealed!” says the advocate, Pervez Aslam. Four days later Samuel died.
The period lapsing between the years 2000 to 2003 has been the severest on Pakistan’s Christian community. Samuel Masih’s death in police custody is the sixth since 1992.
“The blasphemy laws need to be repealed because they are misused against innocent people. I don’t mean just Christians. Anybody can be victimized under these laws,” asserts Mr Cecil Chaudhry. Is the government ready to accept its responsibility in providing protection or is protection going to be as discriminatory as these laws?
The oft-repeated statement of the government of ‘not allowing this soil to be used for terrorism’ is losing its impact. Each day begins with the uncomfortable feeling of an impending maelstrom. When the day ends that uncomfortable feeling is full-blown and made real. And not looking forward to yet another day becomes a constant physical anguish.
