News Desk
The National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP) has expressed grave concern over a recent Supreme Court of Pakistan ruling that acquitted the final three men on death row in the 2014 Kot Radha Kishan case, citing insufficient evidence. The same ruling dismissed the Punjab government’s petition challenging the earlier acquittal of 102 other suspects implicated in the case.
On 4 November 2014, Shahzad Masih and his pregnant wife, Shama Bibi, were brutally burned alive by a mob in Kot Radha Kishan, Kasur district, Punjab, after being falsely accused of blasphemy. An Anti-Terrorism Court subsequently convicted and sentenced five men to death, while others received varying prison terms. On appeal, the Lahore High Court acquitted two of the five death-row convicts and upheld the death sentences of Irfan, Mehdi, and Riaz. The recent Supreme Court ruling has now overturned the remaining convictions.
In a joint statement, His Excellency Bishop Samson Shukardin, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan and Chairperson of NCJP; Reverend Father Bernard Emmanuel, National Director, NCJP; and Mr. Naeem Yousaf Gill, Executive Director, NCJP, expressed deep concern over the Supreme Court’s ruling, describing it as part of a continuing pattern that grants impunity to perpetrators of heinous crimes against religious minorities.
They said that on August 01 2009, a mob set fire to a Christian settlement in Gojra, killing at least ten Christians. All accused were subsequently acquitted. In March 2013, a mob burned down the Christian settlement of Joseph Colony Lahore. All 115 accused were acquitted, citing lack of evidence. On June 4, 2022, Nazir Masih was beaten to death in Sargodha by a mob over blasphemy allegations, without any investigation. Hundreds of individuals arrested in connection with the case were later declared innocent and released.
The NCJP leadership called for concrete measures to ensure justice for religious minorities and demanded that police personnel responsible for weak prosecution in such cases be held accountable and appropriately penalized.
Bishop Samson Shukardin appealed to the Christian community to remain calm and to pray for the strength to endure hardship while remaining steadfast in their faith.