In what attorneys in Pakistan termed a “huge ray of hope,” a federal high court on Tuesday directed the government to form an inquiry commission within 30 days to investigate blatant abuse of blasphemy laws.
Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered the formation of the body to investigate widespread misuse of the harsh laws, strengthened during the 1980s by military ruler Gen. Zia-ul-Haq in an apparent bid to win over Islamist groups and safeguard perceptions of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, and the Quran.
Justice Khan issued the order while hearing a case involving multiple blasphemy cases that came with allegations of repeated patterns of abuse. Families of more than 100 victims of false blasphemy cases alleged that officials from the anti-blasphemy unit of the cybercrime section of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), lawyers and others conspired to honey-trap innocent people, including Christians, into sharing content deemed blasphemous, later using it to extort money by threatening legal action.
They alleged that those who refused to pay were prosecuted under blasphemy laws, exposing them to vigilante violence. Over the years, several individuals accused of blasphemy have been killed extra-judicially by Muslim extremists, according to various research groups.
The petition in the Islamabad High Court was first filed in September 2024, and the court held at least 42 hearings before issuing Tuesday’s directive to the federal government to form the investigative commission within 30 days. The high court justice said the commission must complete its inquiry within four months, although it could request an extension from the court if necessary.
The Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) has documented 701 blasphemy cases between 1947 and 2021, with 1,415 persons accused, 1,308 men and 107 women. At least 89 people were killed and 30 injured in related violence. Among those killed were 72 men and 17 women, it stated.
The data showed a sharp rise in cases following the 1986 amendments introduced by Haq that made blasphemy a capital offence. Before those changes, only 11 cases had been reported, with three people killed.
The National Commission for Human Rights, in its latest report covering the period from October 2023 to July 2024, raised alarm over a surge in blasphemy charges, allegedly fueled by entrapment through pornographic and blasphemous websites.
“The investigation’s findings highlighted a troubling trend: a sharp increase in registration of blasphemy cases, the majority of which were initiated by the FIA’s cybercrime unit, frequently in collaboration with a private entity,” it stated.
The commission linked the rise in cases to the implementation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Act of 2018, noting that young men were targeted through entrapment tactics involving female operatives with fake identities who lured them into blasphemous activities online, resulting in their subsequent arrests.
“This pattern, which has escalated significantly over time, calls for a comprehensive review of the roles and accountability of both government and private entities involved in such cases,” the report stated.
The report also noted that 11 blasphemy cases were reported in 2020, nine in 2021, 64 in 2022, 213 in 2023 and 767 through July 2024. The victims of false blasphemy charges include people from all faiths, but the majority of them are Muslims.
The data compiled by the CRSS showed that those accused of blasphemy between 1947-2021 include 947 Muslims and 421 non-Muslims, while the faith of 47 was unknown. Among the non-Muslims accused, 225 were Christians, followed by 174 Ahmadis, 20 Hindus and one Sikh and Buddhist each.
In one of the most high-profile cases, Punjab Gov. Salmaan Taseer was assassinated by his own security guard in 2011 after he publicly called for reforming the blasphemy laws.
During Tuesday’s hearing, the court also expressed concern over the “disappearance” of a Komal Ismail, alias “Imaan,” a woman believed to be a central figure in several ongoing blasphemy-related cases. She was allegedly used to honey-trap several people accused of blasphemy.
Komal went missing in November, two months after the petition was filed. The court had earlier ordered the blocking of her national identity card and barred her from leaving the country after she failed to appear in court.
“Her life may be in danger. What action can the [government] agency take in such a situation?” the justice asked, expressing concern over her safety.
‘Ray of hope’
Lawyers representing petitioning families said the Islamabad High Court’s verdict gave hope for innocent victims of the blasphemy law.
“This is a huge ray of hope and it is the first time that the families have felt heard,” said attorney Imaan Mazari-Hazar, who represented some of the families of arrested men and women, to reporters after the hearing. “Hundreds of youths have been falsely roped into cases of such a sensitive nature that the stigma will last forever even if they are acquitted.”
Another petitioning lawyer, Hadi Ali Chattha, told the media after the verdict that he hoped the proposed commission would expose the nexus between the FIA and Islamist lawyers behind the surge in blasphemy cases.
“The lawyers of the ‘blasphemy business group’ tried their best to subvert the proceedings of the case, but we appreciate the judge for handling this sensitive matter wisely,” he said.
Chattha said his team had filed a writ petition in the Islamabad High Court based on a report by the Special Branch of the Punjab Police that said a gang based in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi was fabricating blasphemous content and entrapping innocent youths in fake cases for monetary gain.
“We moved the high court for seeking its direction for formation of a high-powered investigative commission to probe the Special Branch report,” he said. “Responding to the high court’s notice, the federal government, through an additional attorney general on Jan. 31, said that the government was concerned about the reports of the activities of the gang and was ready to form a commission, but it required guidelines from the high court on the way forward.”
The judge recommended that the commission include a retired judge of the Supreme Court or high court, a retired senior officer of the FIA who understood the issue, and an expert in information technology. Chattha added that a serving judge by law could not become part of the inquiry, as it was not a judicial inquiry.
On Feb. 28, the attorney general informed the court that the government had been unable to find suitable members for the commission due to the sensitivity of the issue, he said.
“Meanwhile, the members of the alleged blasphemy business gang told the court that they were opposed to the formation of the commission because the court had not given them an opportunity to explain their case,” Chattha said. “The judge told them to record their statements before the commission, but they insisted that the court should hear them.”
The judge granted their request but ordered that proceedings would be broadcast live on YouTube for information for the general public, he said.
“Their lawyers are now claiming that they haven’t been given a chance to present their case, whereas the fact is that all their counsels got sufficient time to argue their case, after which we were told to submit our rebuttals,” he said. “Now that the court has given its verdict, they are trying to propagate that they were not given an opportunity to speak, which is contrary to the facts.”
Commenting on the four months given to the commission for investigating the issue, Chattha said he hoped the inquiry would be completed in the stipulated time due to the availability of relevant data.
A leaked 2024 report by the Punjab Police into the sudden spike in cases found that “a suspicious gang was trapping youth in blasphemy cases” and might be motivated by financial gain.
The Legal Commission on Blasphemy Pakistan (LCBP) is reportedly the most active of attorney groups prosecuting young men in Pakistan. Sheraz Ahmad Farooqi, one of the group’s leaders, told AFP in October that “God has chosen them for this noble cause.”
In recent years, several youths have been convicted and handed death sentences, although no execution has ever been carried out for blasphemy in Pakistan.
“We will fully support the probe commission and are confident that our voices will finally be listened to, our concerns will be heard, and the truth will come out,” a relative of one of the suspects who requested anonymity out of fear of backlash told AFP.
Pakistan, whose population is more than 96% Muslim, is ranked No. 8 on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.
