July 9, 2026
By Hafiz Ullah Storai Sherani
ISLAMABAD
At least 333 blasphemy cases have been reported across Pakistan’s four provinces over the past five years, with Punjab recording the most cases, a parliamentary panel was informed on Wednesday July 7. Most of the registered cases, the Senate Functional Committee on Human Rights learned, were found to be completely fabricated, stemming from personal enmities, while a large number of First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered against unidentified individuals. The session of the meeting was chaired by Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri, during which provincial home secretaries and senior police officials provided detailed briefings on the status of these cases and the accused.
According to official data presented during the meeting, the comparative breakdown of cases registered over the last five years ranks the provinces as follows:
Punjab in the lead:
Punjab topped the country with the number of reported cases, with 116 cases registered under the charges of Defamation of Islam (Section 295-C) alone.
Senior police officials briefed the committee on a critical dimension of these statistics, revealing that 56% of these cases involved members of the Muslim community accusing one another, while 14% were registered against individuals belonging to religious minority communities.
Sindh
Ranking second overall, Sindh recorded 96 cases related to the desecration of the Holy Quran (Section 295-B) and 29 cases concerning Defamation of Islam (Section 295-C).
Senior police officials from Sindh informed the committee that out of the 29 defamation cases registered between 2023 and June 2026, chargesheets (challans) for 22 cases have already been submitted to courts. They noted that two cases remain under investigation, three were registered against unknown suspects, and the remaining files were quashed under ‘C-Class’ regulations due to technical or legal flaws.
Out of the 96 cases involving the desecration of the Holy Quran, chargesheets were filed for 69 cases, six are still being investigated, four were quashed, and 17 FIRs stand registered against unidentified suspects.
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa
The total number of blasphemy cases reported in this province exceeded 90.
Balochistan
Balochistan registered the lowest number of cases in the comparative analysis, with a total of 28 cases on record. Representing Balochistan Police, DIG Dr. Farhan Zahid provided vital details to the committee, stating that almost all of these 28 cases have been resolved, with only four cases currently pending.
Officials assured the panel that investigations into highly sensitive matters, such as cases filed under Sections 295-B and C, were strictly assigned to officers of Grade 17 (SP level) or above. They emphasized that specialized teams, modelled after Joint Investigation Teams (JITs), are constituted to probe these incidents on a high-priority basis.
Speaking to Voicepk, Senator Samina Mumtaz Zehri said that the despite the high numbers, Punjab was also performing better.
“Regarding police and prosecution work, Punjab and KP are doing good work, and the other provinces are following them in this regard,” she said. “We have also recieved some good suggestions. We have asked the police and prosecution officials to provide recommendations so that more improvements can be made.”
She said that the next meeting would be held in-camera, so that it can be reviewed once again and the issues can be resolved for all provinces.
“We want to verify each of the registered cases to ensure that there are no fake or fabricated cases so that a proper scrutiny can take place,” she said. “In this, the police, investigation, prosecutor, and court are all linked to one another; there is a need to recheck all these cases because of the current state of affairs. This is a highly sensitive matter. We have seen people tinge other’s personal beliefs with an accusation of blasphemy and this is tragic. The laws are not perfect, which is why we have sought suggestions from all stakeholders so that we can introduce changes in the laws where needed, and it is the responsibility of all of us, including myself, to give our next generation a secure and free society.”
New SOPs introduced
To curb the rising trend and culture of violent mobs taking the law into their own hands, a new and stringent standard operating procedure (SOP) is now operational.
Senior police officials and the Punjab Home Secretary revealed that a strict policy has been adopted to immediately file an FIR upon receiving the initial report of any incident where a blasphemy case had been registered against any individual/s. Provincial authorities admitted that, in the past, law enforcement agencies typically attempted to mediate or suppress the matter following such tense situations, which frequently resulted in citizens being killed by infuriated mobs. However, the current strategy completely replaces mediation with the immediate registration of cases against named or unidentified individuals—a shift that has led to a noticeable decline in mob violence.
Home department officials across various provinces acknowledged before the parliamentary committee that personal grudges and domestic disputes are frequently cloaked as blasphemy allegations. In the absence of evidence, such accusations eventually prove false, leading to the dismissal of the cases. Citing a specific instance of this trend, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Director of Prosecution, Zeeshan Afridi, briefed the committee on a case where children registered a blasphemy complaint against their own father following a domestic dispute. He explained that during a severe argument at home, the father had allegedly committed desecration out of anger, prompting his son to approach the police station and file the complaint.
Concluding the session, Senator Ata-ul-Haq Darvish of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) questioned the present officials on whether any religious scholar is included in the initial investigation teams handling these sensitive cases. Upon receiving a response in the negative, Senator Darvish proposed that the committee mandate the inclusion of prominent religious scholars at the preliminary investigative stage. This measure, he argued, would ensure that blasphemy allegations are properly assessed and scrutinized right from the outset.