After the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the final appeal against the execution of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy, the controversial blasphemy law has been brought into limelight.

Wednesday’s hearing of the apex court was to be an unprecedented one; a victory for minority groups across the country provided Bibi was relieved off all the charges against her, a punishment for Bibi would mean victory for the hardliners in Pakistan.

The apex court, however, adjourned the hearing for an indefinite period as one of the three-judge bench, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman, told the court he had to recuse himself, claiming a conflict of interest.

Amid the difference of opinion over the blasphemy law, Never Forget Pakistan, a registered non-profit organisation, has released the first episode of its web series, titled “Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws”.

“The first episode reenacts the debate which took place in parliament on July 9, 1986, and draws attention to legislative process behind the making of Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, presenting the first detailed account of the parliamentary proceedings on the introduction of the death penalty to Section 295-C,”a post on the Never Forget Pakistan’s official Facebook reads.

The clause reads:

295-C – Use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him):

Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to fine.

“In this regard, the video highlights how the six main parliamentarians involved in the debate relied upon authoritative texts, including Sarim al Maslool by Ibn Tammiyah, Saif-al-Maslool by Taqi-ud-Din Subki, Fatawa-e-Shami by Ibn Abidin and Fatawa e Alamgir, to support their claim of a universal ijma (consensus) regarding the applicability of the death penalty to non-Muslims blasphemers.”

The video, however, also “examines the primary texts cited by these parliamentarians; one crucial caveat - that non-Muslims will not be killed for insulting the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him)”.

According to the narrator of the video, the claim of a universal ijma was employed as a rhetorical device to silence dissenting voices in parliament which resulted in the legislative process being marred by a number of factual inaccuracies.

It may be mentioned here that the option of life imprisonment was made defunct after a 1991 Federal Shariat Court judgement.

The post further reads: “In order to substantiate the arguments made in this video, original scans of classical Islamic legal texts cited in the parliamentary debates are attached below. We encourage our viewers to peruse the attachments, do their own research, and come to their own conclusions.”

The English version of the video can be seen here