24 January 2023 :

In a move that has alarmed human rights activists in Pakistan, the Shehbaz Sharif government has approved a bill that will strengthen the country's contentious anti-blasphemy laws. Pakistan's National Assembly unanimously passed the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2023 on January 17, enhancing the minimum punishment for those who insult the revered personalities of Islam from three to 10 years along with a fine of 10 lakh Pakistani rupees.
The statement of objectives of the bill said disrespecting the companion of the Prophet and other personalities not only promoted terrorism and disruption in the country but also hurt people from all walks of life.
The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has said that these amendments are likely to exacerbate the persecution of the beleaguered religious minorities and minority sects.
The HRCP Chairperson, Hina Jilani, in a statement issued from Lahore on January 20, said the enactment would further increase persecutions of the minorities.
"While the stated aim of this bill is to curb sectarianism, HRCP believes it is likely to exacerbate the persecution of Pakistan's beleaguered religious minorities and minority sects," according to her statement.
The bill also makes the offence non-bailable, thereby directly violating the constitutionally guaranteed right to personal liberty under Article 9, the HRCP said.
"Given Pakistan's troubled record of the misuse of such laws, these amendments are likely to be weaponised disproportionately against religious minorities and sects, resulting in false FIRs, harassment, and persecution," it said.
The human rights body said that increasing the penalty for alleged blasphemy will aggravate misuse of the law to settle personal vendettas, as is often the case with blasphemy allegations.
"At a time when civil society has been calling for amendments to these laws to prevent their abuse, strengthening this punishment will do the exact opposite," it said.
Under Pakistan's penal code, the offence of blasphemy is punishable by death or life imprisonment. Critics say they have been used by extremist groups to persecute minority faiths and unfairly target minorities.
Several people have been killed by the extremists, though none have been executed under these laws.
These regulations were introduced by former military ruler Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s to win the support of religious groups.
In a 2021 report, the United Nations experts said they were concerned by the continued persecution and acts of violence perpetrated by state and non-state actors in Pakistan, fuelled by claims of apostasy and blasphemy and often targeting religious or belief minorities.

08 March 2023 :

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on 7 March 2023 convict­ed three more accused persons involved in Johar Town bomb blast case.
The court handed down the death sentence on nine counts to accused-Samiul Haq, Uzair Akbar and Naveed Akhtar- in the case. The court also or­dered forfeiture of their properties besides award­ing rigorous imprisonment and imposing fine.
ATC Judge Abher Gul Khan convicted the ac­cused on proving charges against them. The court conducted the trial proceedings through video link due to security reasons.
The court recorded statements of 60 prosecu­tion witnesses during the proceedings whereas fo­rensic evidence and CCTV footage were also made part of the record.
The Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) had filed the challan (charge sheet) against three ac­cused. The CTD declared the accused- Samiul Haq and facilitators Uzair Akbar and Naveed Akhtar, guilty in the challan. The CTD had requested the court for awarding strict punishment to the ac­cused as sufficient evidence was available against them. The CTD had registered the case against the accused under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Sections 302, 336, 186 and others of the Paki­stan Penal Code.
The ATC had already handed down death sen­tences to four accused in the matter, besides awarding five years imprisonment to a female ac­cused.
On 23 June 2021 a powerful blast in Johar Town killed three people and injured 24 others, including a police constable.

20 March 2023 :

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on 13 March 2023 maintained the death sentence of accused Zahir Jaffar in the Noor Mukadam murder case, upholding the trial court's decision. The judges also overturned the 25-year jail term of accused Zahir Jaffar into the death penalty.
The high court rejected Zahir's plea along with the pleas of his household staff, Mohammad Iftikhar and Mohammad Jan — both co-accused in the case — who had challenged the trial court's verdict.
A two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Aamer Farooq announced the verdict, which was earlier reserved on 21 December.
The court's decision for the double death sentence came following Jaffer's crime of 27-year-old Noor's murder and rape.
He received a 25-year imprisonment sentence with hard labour and a fine of Rs0.2 million after the rape was proven.
A Pakistani court on February 2022 sentenced the US national of Pakistani origin, Zahir Jaffer, to death for raping and beheading Noor Mukadam, a daughter of a former diplomat.
The crime had sparked outrage across the South Asian nation, and the gruesome murder dominated headlines ever since.
A sessions court in Pakistan's capital Islamabad sentenced Zahir to death for the murder.
The maximum sentence was 'necessary', the victim's father said after the sentencing. "I have been saying that this is not just my daughter's case; it is a case for all the daughters of my country," he said.
Investigators say Jaffer lured Mukadam to his home, held her there for two days and then brutally murdered her. Two of Jaffer's employees, Mohammad Iftikhar and Mohammad Jan, were jailed for ten years, each on charges of abetting in the crime.

01 March 2023 :

A court in Pakistan on 24 February 2023 sentenced a man to death for murdering a woman in limits of Attock City police station on 12 April 2022.
The Session Judge Asad Ali also imposed a fine of Rs 0.5 million on the accused identified as 19 years old Muhammad Yousaf, an Afghan national.
According to the FIR registered under section 302 and 34 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), the accused shot the married woman for her refusal for having extra marital relationship.
The prosecution produced substantial evidence against the accused which established involvement of Yousaf in the cold blood murder of the woman.

22 January 2023 :

A Khyber court on 19 January 2023 convicted a resident of killing his sister and another person in the name of family honour and sentenced him to death.
District and sessions judge Hidayatullah Khan pronounced that the prosecution had proved the charge against the accused, Mohammad Farooq, without any shadow of doubt and therefore, he had been declared guilty of the offence.
The court awarded the punishment of death to the accused on two counts under the Pakistan Penal Code’s sections 302 and 311 and directed him to pay the compensation of Rs500,000 each to the legal heirs of both the deceased.
It declared, “Right to life is an inviolable fundamental constitutional right and the law of the land altogether discredited murders on the pretext of honour.”
The law has banned out-of-court settlement in honour killing cases to eliminate the practice.
The court observed that customs, how strong and how old they might be, couldn’t override and replace the statutory law or much so the Quranic commandments.
It added that honour killings had been left as the “choice of family” but the custom was no less than ignorance and a serious violation of human rights.
The court ruled that there was no ill will of mala fide of the police to falsely charge the accused or substitute him in place of a real culprit.
The FIR of honour killings was registered at the Milward police station on 13 November 2021.
ASI Saleem Khan, who was the complainant in the case, said he had received information that a case of double murder had taken place in a residence at Mirikhel area and both the deceased had been buried without postmortem.
The complainant said he reached the crime scene and learned from the residents and relatives of both deceased that Mohammad Farooq had killed his 18-year-old sister and a man in the name of family honour at home and fled.
Both bodies were exhumed on the orders of a judicial magistrate. Postmortem reports revealed that the two died from forearm injuries.
The accused was arrested on 14 January 2021, after a court rejected his plea for pre-arrest bail.
Parents of the slain woman had recorded statements with a judicial magistrate insisting that their daughter was murdered. They, however, refused to charge anyone with the murder. Also, the woman’s husband said he was not interested in pursuing the case.
The slain man’s father claimed that his son was killed by the accused. He, however, said since it was a case of honour killing, he did not name the accused in the case.
Senior public prosecutor Shafiullah appeared for the state and contended that the accused had escaped after the killings and didn’t even attend the funeral of his sister, an act that proved “his guilty mind.”
He added that the process of exhuming bodies was also contested by the accused’s parents, which was another proof of his involvement in the offence.
Mr Shafiullah said the deceased were buried without postmortem examination proving their killing in the name of family honour.