The recent incidents including the sentencing of 81-year-old optician Abdul Shukoor, under Pakistan's anti-blasphemy law for possession of innocuous Ahmadi literature clearly shows that that governments National Action Plan (NAP) which was passed following the ghastly December 2014 Taliban attack on 132 schoolchildren, has been as counter-productive as its blasphemy law.
Pakistan's government unanimously passed a National Action Plan (NAP) so that there would be no room left for extremism in any part of the country following the December 2014 Taliban attack.
NAP among its 20 points, outlaws radical literature and funding, calls for restructuring in the FATA region and Balochistan to address regional grievances, and lifts the moratorium on the death sentence for convicted terrorists.
But reports suggest that over a year into its execution, NAP has been less effective and more counter-productive.
The Express Tribune in its blog has highlighted such cases where National Action Plan has been least productive.
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Optician Shukoor, an Ahmadi Muslim, and his assistant Mazhar Sipra, a Shia Muslim, were sentenced to eight-year imprisonment under both the 1997 Anti-Terrorism Act and anti-blasphemy law.
Their alleged "crime" was the possession of innocuous Ahmadi literature in his store, which according to provincial authorities was seditious and treasonous and thus could incite violence.
Following the arrest, Robert P George, Chairman of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, condemned the action.
".. the country (Pakistan) uses anti-terrorism laws as pretexts for denying peaceful citizens [like Shakoor] the fundamental human right to religious freedom," The Express Tribune quoted him as saying.
In another such case, a pan-Islamic demagogue Abul Ala Maudoodi had prompted religiously-motivated riots in Lahore in 1953.
Islamabad imposed martial law and he was issued the death sentence.
But Maudoodi was soon released because of the popular support ultimately.
He later swayed public opinion to allow former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, to introduce the third constitution in
Pakistan's short history and re-establish the "Islamic Republic of Pakistan".
He then became the single most powerful force in materialising General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq's Islamisation of Pakistan and subsequent introduction of its infamous anti-blasphemy laws.
Since then the Pakistan's anti-blasphemy laws carry on Zia's legacy.
In another such incident, a mob murdered a Christian couple after being falsely accused of ripping out pages of the Quran in 2014.
Same year, a paranoid schizophrenic, sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy, was shot and injured by a policeman inside the prison.
Adding to another example of such incident, a teenager chopped off his own hand after mistakenly believing he had committed blasphemy this January.
Though the cleric responsible for labelling the teenager a blasphemer was arrested, he was released following protest from other clerics.
Even the teenager's father has supported the cleric.
In Pakistan reportedly judicial intervention in blasphemy cases is rare because witness testimony counts as sufficient evidence.
And following the murder of human rights lawyer who agreed to defend a professor accused of blasphemy, few in the region are willing to challenge the laws.
While no has ever been executed for blasphemy under Pakistan's judiciary, more than 50 individuals have been murdered before their trial was completed.
Ironically, the National Action Plan has propelled, not quashed for what it was introduced in first hand.
The case of Salman Taseer's killer is another one. The hanging of Mumtaz Qadri, this February can be explained by the courts capitalising on the mass fear of extremists, not a meaningful shift in Pakistani jurisprudence.
Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman whom Taseer publicly defended of falsely accused in blasphemy, has spent six years on death row, while her family has gone into hiding.
And despite Qadri's execution, the Khatm-e-Nubuwwat Lawyers' Forum, provides free representation to ensure "death for anyone who commits blasphemy."
Ironically, even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's son-in-law has supported Taseer's killer by deeming the murder a "religious duty."
Sadly, while the court system dealt with Qadri, no one has been held accountable for the assassination of Pakistan's Federal Minister for Minorities Shahbaz Bhatti.
Bhatti was a Roman Catholic and outspoken critic of anti-blasphemy laws in the country.
For the NAP to fully realise its goal, the citizens should appreciate the concept of a true republic and work together in negating the mob rule. But for it to be fully effective, the governing elites should also look into matter with grave concern and not permit the pendulum of justice to wildly swing, otherwise the result could prove devastating.
