Being an atheist and living in Pakistan is a dangerous combination. Although a good number of atheists and agnostics (mostly Ex-Muslims) live in Pakistan but they don’t have right to openly criticize Islam. Blasphemy is a very sensitive issue, one word against Islam can get you arrested or worst, killed by extremists. A Pakistani governor was assassinated just for criticizing notorious blasphemy law which is often used to target minorities. I am one of the thousands of Pakistani freethinkers who fight against radical Islam in cyberspace. We use pseudo names to protect our identities and lives.

Getting abused on social media is very common

I never write any aggressive comments against Muslims or post offensive images (like Muhammad’s cartoons etc.) but I still find extremist Muslims humiliating me just for condemning their violence provoking comments. I also regularly receive abusive messages and death threats. Today I’m going to write about the recent cyber-bullying of a Pakistani Muslim man.

Why did he choose me to abuse?

One October 1st, 2016, I posted a screenshot of a matrimonial page. It was about typical Pakistani Muslims who like Islamic laws and traditions but want to settle in secular democratic countries.

I did some editing to hide the guy’s identity to protect his name and contact number because I believe in ethical journalism. A British gentleman posted a question on that picture and we had some good informative discussion.

On November 3rd, nearly one month after the original post, Kashi Masood (a Muslim man) wrote an offensive comment in reply to that discussion. He called me a fucker, idiot and “cheap man”. After realizing that he’s in UK, I asked him why he’s living in an “Un-Islamic” country. Although I didn’t use disrespectful language in reply, he began to post even more aggressive and abusive comments. He called me toilet paper, a dog and an idiot apostate. Then he said, “Murtad (apostates) and Kafirs (infidels) are going to hell” and once again, he called me an idiot and a fool.

Who is Kashi Masood?

And when I looked into his profile, I found some interesting discoveries. The first thing which caught my attention was his cover photo where you can see a masked Palestinian militant with Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque in background.

After scrolling down few posts and pictures, I was able to find his selfie with Sadiq Khan; London City Mayor. But the most troublesome thing was that old picture which says; “Running away from Jihad will not save you from death. You can die as a coward or you can die as Martyr” (a quote of Anwar al-Awlaki was an American Yemeni Islamic lecturer and alleged terrorist recruiter and motivator).