Blasphemy in Pakistan

The Pakistan Penal Code penalizes blasphemy (Urdu: قانون ناموس رسالت) against any recognized religion. Penalties provided range from a fine to death. It is the main criminal code of Pakistan. According to human rights groups, blasphemy laws in Pakistan have been exploited for persecuting minorities, and for settling personal rivalries - often against other Muslims and not as much for protecting religious sensibilities.

From 1967 to 2014, over 1,300 people were accused of blasphemy, with Muslims constituting most of those accused. Between 1987 and February 2021 at least 1,855 people have been charged under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws.

So far although no judicial execution sentence has been carried out under these laws, in several cases critics of blasphemy laws or some of the accused or their supporters have become victims of lynchings or street vigilantism in Pakistan.

At least 89 Pakistanis were extrajudicially killed over blasphemy accusations from 1947 to 2021. Among the victims of such killings have been high profile Pakistanis such as Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab, (Pakistan's largest province), Shahbaz Bhatti, the Federal Minister for Minorities who was Christian, and Arif Iqbal Bhatti, a high court justice murdered in his chambers.

According to the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, as of early 2021, around 80 people are known to be incarcerated in Pakistan on blasphemy charges, with half of those facing life in prison or the death penalty.