It has been almost a year and a half since Shagufta’s arrest and this is the second Christmas for the children without their mother. In a letter written by shagufta to her children, she revealed that she has become very weak and her blood pressure does not remain stable, and her physical and mental condition is not that strong. She lacks capacity to bear separation from her children for long, so she wishes to rejoin her children, and has the desire to enjoy Christmas together like a family yet again.
Shagufta’s children say that as Christmas is approaching, they miss their mother a lot. Every day at the dinner table, they cry and pray for their mother’s safe return. Many of our mother’s relatives and friends call to check on us, however nothing can replace a mother’s love.
Shagufta’a children are suffering from trauma and depression as they were forced to leave their house after the incident had occurred. Their future of children is ruined because of this incident. Which led to marking them worried about the fate of their mother. You know that this crime is punishable by the death penalty or life imprisonment. Shagufta is suffering the same trauma and depression in jail. Multiple court hearings have been done but no decision has been made yet.
Rana Abdul Hameed advocate lamented that Shagufta has been facing imprisonment in jail under baseless accusations. The door of Justice is closed for Minorities. By the grace of God, I hope to get her acquitted.
Chairperson of Voice for Justice Joseph Jansen said that this is very disappointing news that the whole world will be celebrating Christmas with their family while prisoners would remain in jail. Sadly, Shagufta is not the only such prisoner Zafar Bhatti, Ishfaq Masih, Anwar Masih, and Rehmat Masih are also victims of baseless accusations. Misuse of blasphemy law is a human rights violation, and is a serious threat to religious Minorities. The accused has to wait for years to enjoy acquittal.
Pakistan is under obligation to improve religious freedom conditions for all minorities We urge the Pakistani Government to conduct a fair trial investigation which will result in releasing the prisoners
It is a failure of the criminal justice system that the person who wrote the message in a group is at large and the one who has given an opinion is arrested. Shagufta has been accused because she is Christian, and belongs to a religious minority, they found an easy target and persecuted her. The government, especially, FIA should take action as people are using digital spaces to create unrest in society. We need to see if investigations are conducted fairly.
A Supreme Court bench led by Justice Qazi Faiz Isa granted bail to the blasphemy accused passing a ruling that the matters pertaining to religion could not be given into the hands of individuals, it should be dealt with amicably by the state. But the state machinery should look into these matters with great care and dexterity. He observed that a trial court in a case related to religion had enacted an indictment but did not mention any section under which the indictment had been made. The Supreme Court while expressing its dissatisfaction over the FIA inquiry into the blasphemy case remarked that the case needed further investigation.