Recently a statement was issued by Senator Farhat Ullah Babar saying that Senate’s committee on Human Rights was all set to take up debate on the inevitable issues of how to prevent the misuse of blasphemy laws in the country.
Source/Credit: Christians in Pakistan
By Madeeha Bakhsh | January 26, 2017
Lahore High Court summons Senator Farhatullah Babar to present a reply over recent debate in Senate for mulling over preventive measures to stop misuse of blasphemy laws in the country. The court was moved by an Advocate who claimed that National Assembly and Senate do not enjoy rights to bring about any kind of change in the blasphemy laws.
LHC Judge while hearing the petition case against the Senate’s Committee on Human Rights ordered the Ministry of Law and Senator Farhat Ullah Babar to submit their reply over the issue in two weeks’ time. Justice Shujat Ali Khan was hearing the petition filed by Advocate Nadeem Sadiqui.
The petitioner had maintained that both the Houses do not enjoy the right to bring changes in the blasphemy laws. Advocate Nadeem had urged the court to order the Senate to halt this debate over prevention of misuse of blasphemy law.
Recently a statement was issued by Senator Farhat Ullah Babar saying that Senate’s committee on Human Rights was all set to take up debate on the inevitable issues of how to prevent the misuse of blasphemy laws in the country. He stated that Senate’s Committee will start discussions on blasphemy laws soon. He said that this discussion will be centered around the recommendations contained in a report which is 24 years old. He further asserted that this will be the first time ever, when a parliamentary body will be considering a formal proposal on how to prevent the misuse of the blasphemy laws.
Senator Farhatullah Babar further said that the proposal under consideration will impose obligatory investigations before a blasphemy case is registered. This will ensure whether the allegations are genuine or fake and that the law was not being used to settle personal scores. He further revealed that the committee will be also discuss the probability of whether life imprisonment was an appropriate punishment, as an alternative to mandatory death penalty.
In 1991, the Federal Shariat Court while deciding a petition of Mohammad Ismail Qureshi held that the alternative punishment of life imprisonment provided in Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was unacceptable in light of the injunctions of Islam.
Till date, none of the respondents have been executed under this law. Majority of those awarded the death penalty have either had their sentences overturned or commuted on appeal against the sentences.
International Commission for Justice in its 2015 report on the implementation of blasphemy laws in Pakistan revealed that more than 80 per cent of the convictions by trial courts are reversed on appeal. This was mainly because the appellate courts found the evidence and complaints invented upon the grounds of “personal or political vendettas.”
Read original post here: LHC moved over Senate’s debate on prevention of misuse of blasphemy law
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