Minority representatives were directed to draft reports on sections applied to exploit minorities and incidents where the police was either complicit or ineffective.
Source/Credit: Daily Mail
By Reema Abbasi | 15 May 2014
Pakistan's Blasphemy or Black Laws are edicts of silence; gags to assail dissent and assert marginalisation.
According to Research conducted in 2012 by the Centre for Research and Security Studies, there were 80 cases in 2011 from one in 2001.
The bloodied battle with black laws has only bred martyrs such as Salmaan Taseer and Shabaz Bhatti; its entire thrust is on minorities where a single charge alienates a whole community.
More often than not, land-grab and revenge wear the guise of a blasphemy allegation.
Perhaps it was this week's murder of Rashid Rehman, a renowned human rights lawyer and the defence attorney of Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer accused of blasphemy, which forced the apex court to exercise some logic.
Even so, the fact that the Chief Justice of Pakistan on Tuesday stated that Pakistan Penal Code Article 295 sees offense against any faith as blasphemous and expressed anger at the absence of registered cases against arsonists of Hindu temples in Sindh, is very good news.
Minority representatives were directed to draft reports on sections applied to exploit minorities and incidents where the police was either complicit or ineffective.
The Indian Supreme Court was also applauded for its measures to safeguard minority interests. The past, strangely enough, was far kinder – the original blasphemy law prescribed a two-year imprisonment. Then, dictator Zia-ul-Haq changed the sentence to a life term or death penalty.
A more liberal and secular military leader, Pervez Musharraf's moves to eliminate it crashed against a rightist establishment, making this the most deadly of edicts on the books.
It is clear as day that the existence of the law is a sign of tacit support for hardliners and inhuman demands.
The writer is a columnist in Karachi
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2629570/Pakistans-blasphemy-law-creating-martyrs.html
Read original post here: Pakistan's blasphemy law is only creating more martyrs
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