RTSat, 16 Jan 2016 15:52 UTC
© Athar Hussain / Reuters
A 15-year-old Pakistani boy has cut off his hand as a way of punishing himself for an accidental "blasphemy" he committed.
The boy was praised by his parents and gained huge respect from his neighbors for the act, police told AFP.
It turns out the
Mohammad Anwar raised his hand by mistake after he misheard a question from an imam, who asked the crowd at a village mosque to give a show of hands of those who had stopped praying.
The boy raised his hand and was immediately accused by the crowd of blasphemy.After cutting off his hand he put it on a plate and brought it to the cleric, the police chief said.
The incident occurred at a village in Hujra Shah Muqeem district, 125 kilometers south of Lahore, the capital of Punjab province.
There is no need for an investigation, the police chief said, as there have been no complaints.
Adopted in 1947 and tracing their roots back to the British rule, Pakistan's blasphemy laws make it a crime to insult religious beliefs. The punishment may range from several years in jail to a death sentence. Pakistan's blasphemy laws have received wide criticism, as many believe they are often abused.
Saroop Ijaz, Pakistan researcher for Human Rights Watch, called the
blasphemy law "an instrument of oppression," as quoted by the Washington Post.
"It's completely discriminatory and has resulted in a lot of mob violence. ...
It is providing and enabling an environment for religious violence to take place," he said.
Comment: When a law is used to shame someone into self-mutilation there's something very wrong with the law and the people that agree to follow it. Honestly, who in their right mind praises a child for cutting off their own hand over such a simple misunderstanding!?
UPDATE: The imam who let this happen has been
arrested. Well, it's a start!
Pakistani police have arrested the imam of a mosque in Okara, in the Punjab province, for inciting violence after a 15-year old boy cut off his own hand, believing he had committed blasphemy, a serious crime in the majority Muslim country.
Police filed anti-terrorism charges against the imam and arrested him, local police chief Nosher Ali told Reuters. "Such illiterate imams of mosques should not be allowed to deliver speeches. His arrest is under the National Action Plan that hate speeches inciting violence are no longer allowed in this country," Ali said.
Given this kid's sadly twisted mindset, and that of his parents, his 'imam', and surrounding community, maybe he should have retained the hand (for working) and done the world a favor and cut off another 'appendage', as this other member is the key instrument for advancing these utterly horrifying ideals by rapidly multiplying their numbers to spread the wonderful word of 'Allah' (read: Satan.)
If he would cut off his hand for this most minor of conceivable infractions against 'Islam", and lovingly offer it to his approving 'imam', I strongly suspect he would not hesitate to don a suicide vest if his 'imam' instructed him to, for the glory of 'Allah' (and those juicy virgins dutifully waiting for him in 'paradise', once the monstrously murderous deed was done.)
Utterly unbelievable......... (but VERY glad to see the Pakistani police arrested this scumbag 'imam', who will hopefully face a firing squad very very soon, so he, too, can get his share of luscious virgins in 'paradise'.)