By Xari Jalil
The status also included threats and a curse symbol/emoji. The complainant states that this act hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims. He submitted the video as evidence.
As a result, police including SI Bilal Hussain, along with constables Imran Ameer, Usman, and Sameer Arshid, went to Pehle Wala in a police vehicle. Based on the complaint, an offense under sections 295A and 298A of the Pakistan Penal Code was established. The report was sent to the police station for registration.
It is possible, although remains unverified that the accused belonged to the Shia school of thought.
Cases against religious minorities
Interestingly, several recent blasphemy cases in Pakistan involving TikTok, often targeting Christians and leading to severe penalties, which highlights the platform’s role in such controversies.
One of these cases is that of Ehsaan Masih, a Christian charged for sharing content deemed ‘blasphemous’. These cases, reported in 2023 and 2024 respectively, involved severe outcomes, including death sentences.
Ehsan Masih, 2023
On August 19 2023, police charged a Christian with blasphemy for uploading on TikTok a video of content that last week led to attacks on Christian homes and businesses in Jaranwala more than 100 kilometers away, sources said.Tensions flared over the weekend in 186/9-L village, Sahiwal, when members of extremist religio political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) called for protests against the alleged blasphemy after the TikTok post by 27-year-old Ehsaan Shan Masih went viral.
Arrested Saturday night (Aug. 19) after police took him and his family into protective custody, Masih is in jail on judicial remand and could face years of incarceration before his case is finally resolved. Among other charges, he was booked under Section 295-A of Pakistan’s blasphemy statutes relating to “deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs,” punishable by up to 10 years in prison, a fine or both.
The images were reportedly of the material that led to the rioting that began on August 16 in Jaranwala, north of the Faisalabad District, where two Christians were charged after one found desecrated pages of the Quran accompanied by blasphemous comments attached to a photo of him and his brother.
At the time a local pastor had said that Ehsaan was a laborer and was illiterate, barely being able to manage his livelihood. The pastor said the young man had come across a video on social media related to the attacks in Jaranwala that he had posted on his TikTok account.
Noman Masih, 2024