“Pakistan’s blasphemy laws persecute the weakest of the weak” By Farahnaz Ispahani

To quote a 2016 Amnesty International report, “As Good as Dead: The impact of blasphemy laws in Pakistan,” once an individual is accused of blasphemy, “they become ensnared in a system that offers them few protections, presumes them guilty, and fails to safeguard them against people willing to use violence.” On Saturday, Rome’s Colosseum was lit in red in support …

Persecution in the Land of the Pure by FARAHNAZ ISPAHANI

After years of neglect, the State Department is finally responding to Pakistan’s dismal record on religious freedom. The time is ripe for more serious action. This past Monday, a student in Pakistan shot his high school principal dead after being reprimanded for skipping school to attend a sit-in organized by one of Pakistan’s Islamist parties. The killer argued that the …

Wellesley in Politics: A personal profile interview.

Wellesley in Politics: Interview with Farahnaz Ispahani ‘85  (@fispahani) Farahnaz Ispahani ‘85 has been a leading voice for women and religious minorities in Pakistan for over two decades, working as a journalist, member of Pakistan’s National Assembly, and most recently as a United States-based scholar. An advocate of Pakistan’s return to democracy during the military regime of Pervez Musharraf, she served …

  Farahnaz Ispahani is a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington, DC and the author of the book Purifying The Land of The Pure: The History of Pakistan’s Religious Minorities (Oxford University Press, 2017). In 2015, she was a Reagan-Fascell Scholar at the National Endowment for Democracy, in Washington, DC.  Ispahani was a Public …

Religious Fanaticism Prevails Over Pakistan’s Court by By FARAHNAZ ISPAHANI & NINA SHEA

The country’s Supreme Court dodges a decision by adjourning a high-profile blasphemy case. The fate of an illiterate berry picker on death row for blasphemy has gripped Pakistan in a furor of religious fanaticism. Few examples better illustrate the misplaced priorities of the Pakistani government and the country’s Islamist ideologues. Asia Bibi was scheduled to appear before Pakistan’s Supreme Court …

“Reviving Jinnah’s Legacy of Religious Freedom in Pakistan” Farahnaz Ispahani

In establishing a homeland for Muslims, Pakistan’s founding father, Muhammed Ali Jinnah, also supported the idea of Islam serving as a unifying force and believed Pakistanis had a responsibility to uphold the principles of religious freedom and to protect the rights of religious minorities. As religious intolerance and violence against religious minorities grows, it is clear that Pakistan has failed …

Persecution Without Prosecution: The Fate of Minorities in Pakistan- By Farahnaz Ispahani

The South Asia Channel Persecution Without Prosecution: The Fate of Minorities in Pakistan With religious persecution in Pakistan going unchecked, it is time for the United States to designate Pakistan a Country of Particular Concern. By  Farahnaz Ispahani – A former member of the Pakistani parliament and author of the forthcoming book: Purifying The Land of the Pure: Pakistan’s Religious Minorities. …

Destroying Pakistan- The curse of the blasphemy law by Farahnaz Ispahani and Nina Shea

Pakistan’s blasphemy law, which turns 30 this year, has become only more deadly with age. Since blasphemy was made a capital crime under the nation’s secular penal code, the effect has been to suppress moderate influences, pushing “Pakistani society further out on the slippery slope of extremism,” said Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, senior advocate at the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in Washington last …