It is a worrying development. The Superior Court of Islamabad has decided to suspend a previous ruling asking the Government to form a commission to analyze the misuse of blasphemy laws.
The previous sentence of Judge Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan had arrived after months of hearings in which presentations were made that indicate a entrapment pattern, custody abuse and investigation failures in hundreds of cases of online blasphemy. The court had correctly concluded that the issue was of public interest, and that the formation of an investigation commission was urgent and necessary.
That initiative now hangs in balance. The decision of the Bank of the Division of waiting for the order of a single bank, citing jurisdictional and procedure concerns, can be legally debatable, but the consequences of inaction are much more serious. Pakistan blasphemy laws, often misused as revenge and coercion tools, have cost lives, reputation ruins and undermine public faith in the justice system.
The court had been presented with serious concerns: reused social media accounts, non -verified digital evidence, private arrests and four reported deaths reported, including a video captured. These are not routine procedure defects: they are red flags that require scrutiny.
The original petition had been strengthened by two previous investigations: one by the special branch of the Punjab Police, and another by the National Human Rights Commission. Both found credible evidence of a network supposedly exploiting blasphemy laws to obtain financial gains.
When launching a key in the works, the courts run the risk of sending the message that even in matters where innocent lives are at stake, rooted interests may be protected from scrutiny. This is a bad service for justice. The judicial process should not lose sight of the suffering suffered by the victims of false accusations.
If we cannot allow an investigation to be carried out, how can we affirm that defending the rule of law?
Posted in Dawn, July 26, 2025
