Judge Implicated in Blasphemy Entrapment Ring Resigns

By admin On Mar 13, 2025

Lahore High Court building in Lahore, Pakistan. (MariyamAftab, Creative Commons)

LAHORE, Pakistan (Christian Daily International–Morning Star News) – A high court judge in Pakistan resigned last week after a media report exposed his alleged close ties with a criminal gang falsely charging Christians and others with blasphemy, sources said.

Justice Chaudhry Abdul Aziz of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday (March 6) sent his resignation to President Asif Ali Zardari citing “personal reasons” for stepping down and requesting its immediate acceptance. He was appointed as an LHC judge in November 2016.

Several lawyers, including Christian attorneys involved in defending persons accused of blasphemy, expressed relief at the judge’s resignation as they shared with Christian Daily International-Morning Star News how he pressured them during cases.

A Muslim attorney said on condition of anonymity said that just days before the controversial judge sent his resignation, Aziz had issued a stay order against any possible adverse action based on a report of the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) on blasphemy cases.

Sajid Iqbal Lashari, an office-bearer of the Tahaffuz-i-Khatam-i-Nabuwwat Forum (Movement for Protection of Finality of Prophethood) had challenged the NCHR report in Aziz’s court. The report pointed out the lack of due process in blasphemy cases, including significant procedural violations at multiple stages.

It recommended formation of a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) through the Ministry of Human Rights comprising officials from the Special Branch of the Police, Intelligence Bureau, Ministries of Law, Interior, Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), and other relevant departments to deal with the blasphemy cases. The NCHR report called for stern disciplinary proceedings against the FIA officials involved in illegal arrests or soliciting bribes while noting the apparent leniency of the FIA towards the private entities and individual complainants behind multiple blasphemy cases.

“I think that Aziz was forced to step down due to the mounting international pressure on the country’s civil-military establishment to take measures against the blatant violations of human rights in Pakistan, particularly the steep rise in false blasphemy cases in the last couple of years,” the anonymous Muslim attorney told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

The judge’s alleged link with the “blasphemy business gang” was revealed in an investigative report by Fact Focus, a website banned by authorities in Pakistan. According to the report, Aziz had a long history of blasphemy activism with attorney Rao Abdul Rahim, alleged mastermind of the “blasphemy business group.”

The two lawyers were involved in fabricating a blasphemy case against 11-year-old Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl from Islamabad, in August 2012, according to Fact Focus. Despite the fact that a judicial inquiry proved the case against Rimsha was entirely false, Aziz was appointed as a high court judge within four years, the report added.

The Fact Focus report asserted that many blasphemy-related cases were assigned to Aziz in the Lahore High Court. Citing a blasphemy case of a Muslim suspect, Ahmed Satti, the report stated that Aziz unnecessarily held the bail rejection order for four months before finally rejecting Satti’s bail. Eventually the Supreme Court ruled on the same case that no material had been presented to link the petitioner to the alleged offenses and granted him bail.

In April 2023, Justice Babar Sattar of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) noted the malicious and suspicious activities in the Cybercrime Wing of the FIA and ordered it to cease work on the cases falling under the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and focus solely on matters related to electronic crimes, according to the report.

“Instead of challenging this order in the IHC or taking it to the Supreme Court, the blasphemy business gang once again brought the matter before Justice Aziz who, as expected, directed the FIA to resume work on PPC cases, effectively bypassing the judgment of the IHC without providing any clear rationale,” it added.

The report went on to reveal that when Islamabad police were nearing the conclusion of their investigation against attorney Rahim in the murder case of falsely accused Abdullah Shah, Rahim filed a petition before Aziz complaining that the FIA – which had already been working closely with him – was not properly investigating blasphemy cases. Rahim requested that appropriate actions be taken by the FIA.

“In response, Justice Aziz ordered the creation of anti-blasphemy cells in the FIA across the country,” the report noted. “The proceedings of this case by Justice Aziz was clearly meant to give a media hype to Rao Abdul Raheem and to pressurize Islamabad Police officials.”

Christian attorney Aneeqa Maria recalled a blasphemy case in which her team had filed an application for grant of post-arrest bail to two Christians, Sunny Waqas and his cousin Noman Masih, who were booked by the Bahawalpur police and the Bahawalnagar police in two blasphemy cases related to the same incident.

“Justice Aziz was serving in the Bahawalpur Bench of the Lahore High Court, and the bail petition was fixed in his court,” Maria told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News. “Instead of judging the grounds for bail, Aziz pressured the police to add Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act in the case and investigate the matter afresh. It’s good that such a religiously prejudiced judge is not part of the bench now.”

Another Christian attorney, Lazar Allah Rakha, said that he had filed an appeal against the death sentence given to two Muslim blasphemy suspects, Muhammad Riaz and Ejaz Ahmed, which was heard by a two-judge bench including Aziz.

“Just when the other judge was about to announce the acquittal order for the two convicts, Aziz recused himself from the bench to prevent his colleague from acquitting the appellants,” Rakha told Christian Daily International-Morning Star News.

The attorney, who along with Maria also represented Sunny Waqas and Noman Masih, said that during a hearing of the bail petitions, Aziz lost his temper and accused him of defending the blasphemy suspects “just to make some money.”

“The judge’s harsh remarks turned the court’s environment very hostile and provoked some emotional lawyers to surround me,” Rakha said. “He repeatedly pressurized the investigations superintendent of police to conduct a fresh investigation who eventually prepared a new challan [charge sheet] and added the section related to terrorism in the cases.”

Pakistan ranked eighth on Open Doors’ 2025 World Watch List of the most difficult places to be a Christian.

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