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Abstract
This chapter traces the trajectories of laws related to blasphemy in British India, followed by their translation into the Pakistani constitution and penal law against the backdrop of the discussion on the Islamicity of the fledgling state. In the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, the majority of judgements on this issue have been pronounced against non-Muslims and minorities. The atrocious consequences of the public handling of these laws will be exemplified with three cases that have caught the media’s attention: the assassination of the governor of Punjab in 2011 and the subsequent veneration of his murderer, the lynching of Mashal Khan in early 2017, and the spectacular rise of the religio-political party Labbaik Ya Rasul Allah in late 2017 and 2018. These cases provide some understanding of the struggles between local factions competing for scarce resources in which the Prophet is the main point of reference.