Families in Pakistan describe fear, extortion, and social ruin as an alleged “blasphemy gang” manipulates the country’s harsh blasphemy laws.
Newsroom (14/01/2026 Gaudium Press) When 50-year-old Sakeena Anjum walked into a dimly lit police station in Pakistan’s Punjab province on September 18, 2024, her only hope was to find her missing son. Amir Shehzad, a 33-year-old rickshaw driver from Lahore, had vanished four days earlier after leaving home to collect a parcel. Witnesses claim four men in plain clothes forced him into a white car — an abduction that would mark the beginning of the family’s nightmare.
Days later, officers from the Cyber Crime Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Pakistan’s top law enforcement body, informed the family that Shehzad had been detained for allegedly sharing blasphemous content on Facebook. The accusation — carrying a possible death sentence — shocked the devout Muslim family. “We start our day with namaz. We love our Prophet. How could he do this?” Anjum asked, still in disbelief.
The family’s grief soon turned to terror. FIA officials allegedly warned them against speaking to anyone about the case, insisting they could be killed or their home burned by enraged clerics. “We live in constant fear,” Anjum said quietly. “Even our prayers feel unsafe.”
Entrapped by Fear
Every Tuesday, Anjum visits her son behind bars at a Lahore jail. Shehzad told her that dozens of inmates shared his fate — accused of blasphemy after being “entrapped” by a financial extortion network known locally as the “blasphemy gang.”
A report by Punjab Police’s Special Branch, leaked in early 2024, confirmed the existence of such a syndicate. The document alleged that members of the group had lodged complaints in nearly 90 percent of FIA-registered blasphemy cases — often after victims refused to pay extortion money. Some FIA officials were implicated as collaborators.
These claims were not new. As far back as 2019, senior FIA officer Sajjad Mustafa Bajwa had warned colleagues about the syndicate’s fraudulent use of blasphemy charges, which he said damaged the agency’s credibility. Yet, his warning went largely unheeded.
According to Pakistan’s National Commission for Human Rights, more than 450 individuals — most of them men, including ten Christians — have been ensnared by such allegations over the years. At least five have died in custody before ever seeing trial.
Justice Deferred
In July, the Islamabad High Court ordered the federal government to establish a commission to investigate the misuse of the laws. But soon after, an appellate bench suspended the probe in an interim order, effectively silencing what many hoped would be a breakthrough in one of Pakistan’s deepest human rights crises.
That suspension crushed the hopes of victims’ families. On December 30, 2024, dozens gathered outside the Lahore Press Club to protest, accusing authorities of deliberate inaction. Their planned press conference was canceled at the last minute, allegedly under government pressure.
“We were silenced again,” said one father whose son was arrested earlier in 2024. “Even senior journalists couldn’t help us. We had to flee our home for safety.”
Lawyer Under Siege
For lawyer Hadi Ali Chattha, representing 76 victims has come at a heavy personal cost. In June 2024, he was charged under Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act for allegedly defaming a cleric—after posting that the cleric’s brother was part of the blasphemy gang. Though the Islamabad High Court dismissed the case, Chattha says harassment has not stopped. “They follow me, threaten me, even try to arrest me again,” he said.
He explained that the gang’s influence persists beyond courtrooms. Even after bail, accused individuals face ostracism, with their homes marked as “blasphemers.” Mosques have reportedly broadcast their names and addresses, inciting violence and forcing families to flee. “It is modern persecution through fear and isolation,” Chattha said.
Faith and Fragility
For families like the Anjums, life has been reduced to survival. Once part of a close-knit Lahore neighborhood, they now live behind locked doors, avoiding neighbors who whisper about them. Yet amid despair, Anjum clings to faith. “Inshallah, we will prove his innocence one day,” she says, her voice trembling. “God knows the truth.”
As Pakistan grapples with the balance between faith and justice, hundreds of families remain trapped — accused, silenced, and afraid. For them, the system that promised protection has become the source of their deepest fear.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from UCA News
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