CBC Gives PM Of Pakistan – A Country That Sentences People To Death For Blasphemy – A Platform To Lecture Canadians On ‘Hate’ & Censorship

InsightSpencerFernando

An appalling expression of weakness and lack of judgement from CBC.

CBC has given Canadians yet another reason to push for the defunding of the state broadcaster.

The network apparently felt it would be appropriate to give a softball interview to Pakistan PM Imran Khan, giving him a platform to push for the censorship of Canadians online.

Here’s part of it:

“Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan appeared in an uncritical CBC Rosemary Barton live interview on Sunday in which he advocated for online censorship.”

As Andrew Lawton notes, both Barton and Khan seem to be on the same page:

“The prime minister of Pakistan called for online censorship in an interview on state television in Canada and got zero pushback. In fact, it was the host who set up the premise that governments should be censoring internet speech.”

Why the hell should Pakistan be lecturing Canada on anything?

To say this is a disgrace would be understating it.

First of all, there’s no problem having different people do interviews.

But for the interview to be so uncritical, and for CBC to put Canada in a situation where we are being lectured by the head of Pakistan is pathetic.

Consider that Pakistan has an absolutely dreadful human rights record, where the rights of religious minorities are practically non-existent.

Indeed, Pakistan sentences people to the death penalty for ‘blasphemy.’

Here’s a rundown of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws:

PPC Description Penalty
§ 298 Uttering of any word or making any sound or making any gesture or placing of any object in the sight with the deliberate intention of wounding the religious feelings of any person. 1 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
§ 298A Use of derogatory remarks etc., in respect of holy personages. 1980 3 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
§ 298B (Ahmadi blasphemy law) Misuse of epithets, descriptions and titles etc., reserved for certain holy personages or places, by Ahmadis. 26 April 1984 3 years imprisonment and fine
§ 298C (Ahmadi blasphemy law) Aka Ordinance XX: f a Muslim, or preaching or propagating his faith, or “in any manner whatsoever” outraging the religious feelings of Muslims, or posing himself as a Muslim. 26 April 1984 3 years imprisonment and fine
§ 295 Injuring or defiling places of worship, with intent to insult the religion of any class Up to 2 years imprisonment or fine, or both
§ 295A Deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs. 1927[29] Up to 10 years imprisonment, or fine, or both
§ 295B Defiling, etc., of Quran. 1982[30] Imprisonment for life
§ 295C Use of derogatory remarks, spoken, written, directly or indirectly, etc. defiles the name of Muhammad or other Prophet(s) 1986 Mandatory Death and fine (Feb. 1990[31])Trial must take place in a Court of Session with a Muslim judge presiding.[32]

Furthermore, Pakistan is so hostile to religious minorities that many of those sentenced to death for blasphemy end up being killed before their trials finish:

“Since the 1980s, nearly 80 people have been killed by individuals or angry mobs even before their trials were concluded in courts.

Between 2011 and 2015, the latest period for which consolidated data is available, there were more than 1,296 blasphemy cases filed in Pakistan.”

And of course, there is the case of Asia Bibi, who found freedom in Canada after being treated brutally in Pakistan:

“She recalled how, in 2009, a longstanding dispute with neighbours culminated in a group of local women accusing her of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.

“My husband was at work, my kids were in school, I had gone to pick fruit in the orchard,” she said. “A mob came and dragged me away. They made fun of me, I was very helpless.”

Asia Bibi: Pakistan’s notorious blasphemy case
Acquitted of blasphemy and living in fear in Pakistan
In her book, Ms Bibi tells how she feared for her life in prison, with other inmates calling for her to be hanged. She also recalled mistreatment at the hands of the prison guards.

“I can’t breathe,” she writes. “My neck is compressed by a neck brace that the guard can tighten as much as he wants with a big key. A long chain drags on the dirty floor; it links my throat to the guard’s handcuffs that drags me like a dog.”

Ms Bibi told the BBC that her Christian faith helped her through the ordeal.

“They said change your faith, and you’ll be freed. But I said no. I will live my sentence. With my faith,” she said.”

So again, why the hell should Canada listen to what the head of Pakistan has to say about how we do things in our country?

And why wouldn’t Barton push back against this hypocrisy?

At the very least, if you’re having the Pakistani PM on to lecture Canadians, there should be some pushback.

But of course, pushing back and standing up for Canada’s dignity or Canadian values isn’t what CBC or the Canadian political/media establishment is all about.

No, they’re all about demoralizing Canadians, demonizing our history, dividing people, and elevating everything that’s ‘non-Western.’

That is the result of what is – essentially, an anti-Canadian attitude among Canada’s ‘elites’ – an attitude of weakness and surrender that is immediately picked up on by foreign countries and foreign leaders, who then see a chance to intimidate and manipulate our country, no matter how glaring their hypocrisy may be.

Thus, we end up with Pakistan lecturing Canada on how to deal with hate, as that country has people sitting on death row for offending the religious majority in the country.

#DEFUNDCBC

Unsurprisingly, #DefundCBC is now trending on Twitter, as many point out how insulting this all is to basic common-sense.

Yet, beyond the current justified anger towards CBC, we really have to consider how dangerous the mindset of Canada’s ‘leaders’ has become.

We are watching an effort – now out in the open – to cast all of Canada’s as negative and ‘oppressive,’ while elevating the history of foreign countries like Pakistan and China above our own.

This is why – as you well know – a ‘Post-National’ country will still have nationalism, but it will simply be the fractured nationalism of a bunch of separate countries inhabiting this space, rather than a more unified Canadian identity.

It’s a recipe for further division, at a time when Canada needs to be unified.

Now more than ever, Canada needs us to stand up for our history and our values and push back against those who want our country to be demoralized and weak.

Spencer Fernando

Photo – Twitter

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