Why 'halwa' on dress can get people killed in Pakistan

Why ‘halwa’ on dress can get people killed in Pakistan

Cornered by a mob baying for her blood, a woman in Lahore was seen weeping in videos. As police personnel escorted her out of the restaurant, where she had taken refuge, there were chants of ‘…sar tan se juda’ (death penalty for blasphemy).

This incident in a bustling bazaar in the Pakistani city of Lahore — videos of which went viral on Sunday — shows the extent to which blasphemy laws are used to corner people, especially its minorities like Hindus, Christians and even Ahmadiyas and Shia Muslims. More than that, it shows how blasphemy can be traced to dresses and QR codes.

Any “derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet [Muhammad] either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable to, fine”, according to the blasphemy laws in Pakistan.

At the root cause of the fiasco and the death threats in Pakistan in 2024 is a dress, apparently from a Kuwaiti company, with Arabic calligraphy.

The fanatic crowd in the Lahore bazaar saw the Arabic script and associated it with verses from the Quran.

The dress, which can be bought from eBay, had nothing to do with the Quran.

In fact, it was ‘halwa’ that was written all over the woman’s dress. Simple, sweet ‘halwa’, a dessert that is savoured in the Indian subcontinent and beyond.

But Pakistan, it seems, is now a desert, where rationality is like a mirage.

This incident would have been termed comic hadn’t it involved a murderous crowd and ‘sar tan se juda’ threats.Â

Such protests and this, however, isn’t a first.Â

PROPHET MUHAMMAD’S NAME IN THE QR CODE

In 2022, a Pakistani man threatened to burn down a truck delivering cold drinks after he said he spotted “an inscription of Prophet Muhammad’s name on the QR code” of a 7UP bottle.Â

While showing the QR code, the person said: “Bhaijaan, yeh dekhein, isme Muhammad ka naam likha hua hai (Please see this, Muhammad’s name is written on it).”

Podcaster and activist Imran Noshad Khan intervened and saved the trucker and his truck.Â

“Lack of awareness. I spotted this Ashiq e Rasool. He was threatening this poor truck driver on University Road and the mob was gathering and threatening to burn the truck,” Khan posted on X in 2022.

Also in 2022, protests erupted in Karachi after Wi-Fi devices installed at a mall allegedly played comments against the companions of Prophet Muhammad.Â

A mob vandalised Samsung billboards and accused the global electronics firm of blasphemy.

Other reports say it was because of a QR code that Samsung was targeted. A QR code!

HALWA WALA DRESS AND BLASPHEMY IN PAKISTAN

In the latest case, the woman had gone with her husband to a market in Lahore when she was accosted by a group of people over the Arabic calligraphy on her dress.Â

“There is no shortage of ignorant people in Pakistan,” Faraz Pervaiz, a Pakistani Christian who has himself been accused of blasphemy, said on X. He said the woman might have been killed had not “police managed to control the angry Muslim mob”.Â

Pervaiz, who fights against Pakistan’s draconian blasphemy laws, said the “dress is not actually Quranic verses, but a design with Arabic calligraphy, which is common in Saudi Arabia. And above it is written the Arabic word Halwa, which means “beautiful and sweet”.

Scared for her life, the woman had to apologise for wearing the dress, which had nothing to do with blasphemy.

The ‘halwa’ dress and similar ones can be bought online.

A Riyadh-based platform, ‘Shalik Riyadh’, which specialises in women’s apparel, had listed a dress with an Arabic calligraphy design.

A day after the Lahore episode, a man requested the store owner to “take down the photo of the dress”, while another woman sarcastically posted, “Not available for Pakistan”.

ATTACKS OVER BLASPHEMY IN PAKISTAN

Attacks on individuals and places of worship over blasphemy are common in Pakistan, a country with a 96% Muslim population.

A 2021 incident caught global attention. A mob in Pakistan’s Sialkot tortured a 40-year-old Sri Lankan national to death and then burnt his body.

The factory manager had allegedly torn a poster of the hardline Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan with Quranic verses inscribed on it and threw it in the dustbin.

In August 2023, at least five churches were vandalised in Pakistan’s Faisalabad district over an alleged incident of blasphemy. Videos showed clerics inciting the mobs to destroy the churches.

But how has Pakistani society become so radicalised, and when did Pakistan get its blasphemy laws?

PAKISTAN AND ITS BLASPHEMY LAWS

Pakistan has the second-strictest blasphemy laws after Iran, according to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Pakistan is among the six Islamic countries where blasphemy is punishable by death.

Offences concerning religion were first codified by British rulers in 1860 and were expanded in 1927. After Partition and Independence, Pakistan inherited these laws.

It was the military dictator, General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who started the extreme Islamisation of Pakistan. Zia-ul-Haq ruled Pakistan from 1977 until he died in 1988, and his reign saw the introduction of harsh blasphemy laws.

In January 2023, Sunni-majority Pakistan further strengthened its already harsh blasphemy laws to punish anyone convicted of insulting people connected to the Prophet Muhammad.Â

Rights activists say the expanded laws could target minorities, particularly Shia Muslims, who are critical of many early Muslims.

About 1,500 people have been charged with blasphemy in Pakistan in the last three decades. Though no state executions have taken place, the extrajudicial lynching of the accused is very common.

The mainstreaming of organisations like Tehreek-e-Labbaik has added to Pakistan’s radicalisation.

“The emergence of the Tehrik-E-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) as the largest religious political party in the country has introduced a new, aggressive element in Pakistan’s polity,” writes Sushant Sareen of Observer Research Foundation.Â

Sareen says the TLP has “exploited deeply emotional issues like the finality of Prophethood and blasphemy against the Prophet” to emerge as a major political force since 2015 when it was founded. Â

Hounding people over Arabic ‘halwa’ dress or QR code is a reminder of the strict blasphemy laws of the country and the radicalisation of its people.Â