Pakistan Families Demand Inquiry Into ‘Blasphemy Business Gang’ (Worthy News Investigation)

by Stefan J. Bos, Worthy News Chief International Correspondent

ISLAMABAD (Worthy News) – Families of people they say were prosecuted in Pakistan on fabricated blasphemy charges are demanding legal action against an alleged “blasphemy business gang” accused of using young women to lure men into online honey traps before implicating them in offenses against Islam.

They are urging the government and other authorities to establish an independent judicial inquiry commission to investigate alleged perpetrators, the fabrication of digital evidence and women said to have participated in the network.

Around 120 people accused in such cases have been released on bail or acquitted across Pakistan, including in Islamabad, Karachi and Rawalpindi, according to lawyers and families involved in the cases. However, hundreds reportedly remain behind bars, with victims including Christians as well as Muslims.

The European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm, has raised concerns about a “blasphemy business group” that allegedly entrapped more than 800 people, mainly young men, through online schemes.

Lawyers and rights activists say the alleged honey traps typically begin when a woman approaches a young man through social media or a messaging service and develops an online relationship or gains his confidence. The target may then be drawn into religious or sexually explicit conversations, or sent images, videos or other material and encouraged to respond, download or forward it.

ONLINE HONEY TRAPS

Those exchanges can subsequently become evidence in a blasphemy prosecution, sometimes after screenshots or other digital material are allegedly manipulated or presented without their original context, according to lawyers representing defendants. Rights advocates say the alleged network has targeted Muslims as well as members of Pakistan’s vulnerable Christian minority.

The motives remain disputed. Families and lawyers describe the operation as a “business,” alleging that some cases involved extortion or other financial incentives. Those pursuing blasphemy cases, however, have portrayed their activities as efforts to defend Islam against online insults, leaving investigators to determine whether money, religious activism or a combination of motives drove individual cases.

The European Commission said the alleged network appeared to have been dismantled, but more than 300 people it described as falsely accused remained in prison as of April 2026. It also warned of continuing procedural delays and extrajudicial violence linked to blasphemy accusations.

Advocate Farooq Bashir, general secretary of the Christian Lawyers Alliance Pakistan, told Worthy News that allegations of systematic misuse of blasphemy laws, online honey-trapping and fabricated digital evidence were serious enough to require an independent investigation.

“Where hundreds of citizens and families claim to have suffered imprisonment, loss of livelihood, social persecution or other serious consequences, the State must establish the truth through an independent and transparent process,” Bashir said.

LAWYER SEEKS INQUIRY

He urged Pakistan’s government to create a judicial inquiry commission empowered to examine allegedly false cases, online communications, digital evidence, investigative procedures and the possible involvement of organized networks or public officials.

“The purpose of an independent inquiry should be neither to protect anyone nor to condemn anyone in advance,” Bashir stressed. “It should establish the truth, identify any misuse of the law, determine institutional failures and recommend action wherever wrongdoing is established.”

The affected families formally renewed their demands during a press conference in Islamabad on Monday, but pressure for such an investigation has been building for more than a year.

In July 2025, Islamabad High Court Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan ordered the federal government to establish a commission to investigate allegations surrounding the alleged blasphemy business group. However, a two-judge division bench suspended implementation of the decision on July 24, 2025.

The families are also seeking progress in a constitutional petition filed in August 2024 by Noor Fatima, whose son Abdullah Shah was allegedly abducted and later found dead. Her case subsequently became part of a wider Islamabad High Court examination of allegations that young people were being entrapped and implicated in blasphemy cases through an organized network.

COURT CASE DELAYED

The families say proceedings have repeatedly been delayed since the order establishing an inquiry commission was suspended and are urging the court to allow the next scheduled hearing on September 9 to proceed.

“Are human lives so cheap?” the families asked, arguing that the delays have left accused people and their relatives facing prolonged imprisonment and uncertainty.

The families are also demanding a new investigation into Abdullah Shah’s death, saying his case raises unanswered questions about the wider alleged network.

In July 2025, the Islamabad High Court directed police and the Federal Investigation Agency to investigate how Shah’s father became implicated in a blasphemy case and why certain individuals were allegedly excluded from the investigation into Shah’s death.

The families say that the inquiry began but was halted before it could be completed. They want it reopened to examine Shah’s death, related digital evidence and the circumstances surrounding the blasphemy allegations against his family.

NEW DEATH PROBE SOUGHT

They are also asking authorities to locate Komal Ismail, also known as Iman, a woman accused of involvement in the alleged online honey-trapping operation and whose whereabouts became an issue before the Islamabad High Court.

The controversy comes as Pakistan has reported a sharp decline in newly registered blasphemy cases.

Recent data from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan showed just 13 new blasphemy cases registered so far in 2026, a decline of roughly two-thirds compared with recent years, amid a broader state crackdown on hardline Islamist groups.

The decline concerns newly registered cases and does not include defendants who remain detained over accusations filed in previous years, explaining why hundreds can still be imprisoned despite the sharp fall in new cases.

Bashir said defendants must receive due process while judges should be protected from crowds, threats and social-media campaigns aimed at influencing court decisions.

JUDICIAL INDEPENDENCE

“Courts must decide cases on evidence and law,” he told Worthy News. “If a party disagrees with a judicial order, the appropriate course is to use the legal remedies available under the Constitution and law, rather than attempting to pressure or intimidate the judiciary.”

Blasphemy accusations remain particularly sensitive in overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan, where allegations alone can trigger protests, threats, mob violence and killings. Christians and other religious minorities have been particularly vulnerable, although Muslims also make up many of those accused under the laws.

One of the best-known cases involved Christian farmworker Asia Bibi, who spent nearly a decade imprisoned after being sentenced to death for blasphemy before Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned her conviction in 2018. Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and federal minorities minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, were assassinated in 2011 after publicly defending Bibi and opposing the blasphemy laws.

More recently, Christian pastor Zafar Bhatti was acquitted in October 2025 after spending 13 years in prison on blasphemy charges, including years under a death sentence. He died from cardiac arrest days after his release following years of reported medical problems while imprisoned.

Bashir said that amid continuing tragedies linked to blasphemy accusations, the families’ call for justice could ultimately test whether Pakistan can ensure both accountability and due process under its Constitution.

“The Constitution guarantees protection of life, liberty, dignity and due process to every citizen,” Bashir stressed. “If there are organized elements misusing the law, they must be identified and proceeded against according to law. At the same time, no innocent person should remain imprisoned merely because of an allegation.”

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