“The blasphemy laws should be abolished, not reformed. If that demand contradicts the raison d’etre of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, then it’s the Islamic Republic that has to go, not the right to free speech.”
What I’m Reading: Irfan Khawaja, Blasphemy and the Polity of Our Prayers, Policy of Truth (2023-02-01).
Shared Article from Policy of Truth
Blasphemy and the Polity of Our Prayers
The last time I was in Pakistan, back in January of 2012, my cousin Sa’ad threw me a big, lavish party the evening before my departure. I have a ver…
Irfan Khawaja @ irfankhawajaphilosopher.com
. . . The blasphemy laws will only be overturned in Pakistan when Pakistanis come to realize that the price is lower and the prize more valuable than they’ve so far been led to believe. That will be a long struggle, one that people like me can only watch from afar.
A fourth truth, though: a nation that enforces blasphemy laws like Pakistan’s is on track to committing slow suicide. Laws of this sort threaten the expression of candid speech, and in so doing, subvert thought itself. Beyond that, they endorse the basic aims and premises of the fascists who want to turn Pakistan into a theocracy. So while crusading against the blasphemy laws may seem an act of suicide, so is acquiescing in them. The question becomes whether one prefers to risk a quick shot to the head while gambling on freedom, or acquiesce in certain death through daily doses of arsenic–a difficult choice, but one impossible to avoid. . . .
— Irfan Khawaja, Blasphemy and the Polity of Our Prayers,
Policy of Truth (2023-02-01).
Reply to “The blasphemy laws should be abolished, not reformed. If that demand contradicts the raison d’etre of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, then it’s the Islamic Republic that has to go, not the right to free speech.”
Follow replies to this article · TrackBack URI