MUZAFFARABAD: An additional district criminal court in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Saturday handed down capital punishment and imposed a fine of Rs1 million on a man charged with blasphemy.

The decision under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code was pronounced by the court comprising Judges Mohammad Ikram Malik and Ajmal Mahmood Shaheen in Dhirkot subdivision of Bagh district.

In the challan, the police informed the court that one Hafiz Zahoor Ahmed, a schoolteacher who would also deliver sermons in a local mosque, noticed a social media post by Mohammad Shafique in which he had “described himself as a prophet” and had thus committed blasphemy.

Reproducing the Urdu language post, the police named some 23 people in the challan, saying that they and countless others across the globe had read that blasphemous content, which had triggered a strong reaction and exasperation among the people of faith, particularly local residents.

An FIR was registered against Shafique on June 26, 2020 after approval of the DIG police of Poonch and the district judge, with Dhirkot police as complainant.

Published in Dawn, June 26th, 2022