Shaan Taseer booked for ‘hate speech’ following Christmas message

LAHORE: An FIR was registered on Saturday against Shaan Taseer, son of slain Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, for alleged ‘hate speech’ after he sent a greeting out to fellow countrymen on the occasion of Christmas.

Islampura police station received an application from its SHO Nasir Hameed and subsequently booked Shaan under Section 295-A of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) without naming him in the report.

However, religious organisation Sunni Tehreek is pressing the police to register a case against Shaan under Section 295-C of PPC.

According to the SHO, he received a video message in a USB wherein a man was wishing his viewers Merry Christmas and requesting fellow countrymen to pray for minority members being exploited by, what he called, the “inhumane blasphemy law”.

The man also requested prayers for blasphemy victims including Asia Bibi, Nabeel Masih and their families, and all other Pakistanis languishing in jails on charges of blasphemy, the SHO added.

According to the FIR, the man who made the speech in the video had made a mockery of the blasphemy law and hurt religious sentiments of Muslims.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Shaan said, “The state [seems to be] retreating whenever or wherever the mob appears to exact blood for imagined slights. Whereas the state should come into action when violent mobs arise [but] it retreats and even assists it. To find hate speech in today’s Pakistan not in the ranks of the ASWJ or the Lal masjid but in a Christmas message is the stuff of satire. It reminds me of a 50 50 skit.”

Meanwhile, Sunni Tehreek Lahore chapter president Mujahid Abdul Rasool told The Express Tribune that he had filed an application at Mughalpura police station for registration of an FIR against Shaan under Section 295-C of PPC.

He accused the police of trying to protect Shaan by registering FIR against an unidentified man despite the fact that the man in the video had introduced himself as Shaan Taseer.

Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer was attacked and killed in a firing incident in Islamabad’s Kohsar market. He was shot by one of his security guards, an elite force personnel, who has been identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain.

Source: Express Tribune