Pak religious parties say pardoning blasphemy accused Christian woman ‘unIslamic’

LAHORE - Religious parties in Pakistan have come down heavily on the PPP-led government, especially Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, for their ‘anti-Islamic’ attempts to pardon and exile blasphemy convict Asia Bibi to the United States, and demanded Taseer be immediately dismissed as governor, and punished in accordance with the law.

Various religious organisations held protest demonstrations and meetings condemning the PPP government and the secular lobby in the country, particularly Taseer, holding him part of the international conspiracy to amend the Blasphemy Law in Pakistan, The News reported.

Addressing a meeting, Jamaat e Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan said that the PPP government and Taseer were trying to release the death convict Christian woman, Asia Bibi, and send her abroad in violation of the Islamic laws and the law of the land, in connivance with some foreign powers and secular NGOs, instead of adopting the legal procedure by filing an appeal against her death sentence.

He condemned the campaign by Taseer and the country’s secular lobby for the release and exile of Asia, and said that it would prove to be the final nail in Zardari government’s coffin, as the country would foil every conspiracy to abolish the Blasphemy (of the Holy Prophet) Law.

Besides some foreign powers, the secular lobby and the foreign funded NGOs having an anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan agenda are pressurising the Pakistan government for the release of the convicted woman, in a blatant interference in the country’s judicial system and its internal affairs, Munawar said.

He argued why none of the human rights or women’s rights bodies had made such moves to release Dr Aafia Siddiqui sentenced by a US court to 86 years for crimes she never committed.

Aalmi Tanzim Ahle Sunnat (ATAS) staged a demonstration outside the Lahore Press Club, condemning what they called a conspiracy to amend the Blasphemy Law and exile a blasphemy convict, saying that Taseer had committed a crime by flouting the Islamic punishment for blasphemy.

ATAS Chief Pir Afzal Qadri and other leaders challenged those terming the Blasphemy Law a creation of General Zia-ul Haq for a TV debate, arguing that the law was implemented by Holy Prophet (SAW) and Khulafa-e-Rashedin, and those who followed them for centuries.

Addressing a protest meeting, JUI-F Punjab Deputy Secretary General, Maulana Abubakar Chaudhry, warned against the western conspiracy to amend the Blasphemy Law, and argued that sacred personalities and ideals were protected by law in every country and society. (ANI)