September 25, 2013

ISLAMABAD: The issue of misuse of the blasphemy laws was raised by the lawmakers in the National Assembly on Tuesday in the wake of Council of Islamic Ideology’s (CII) recommendations that the existing blasphemy laws did not require any amendments. “The laws are being misused and I had also opposed the law in the past, violating the party discipline,” Makhdoom Javed Hashmi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) said while addressing the National Assembly. He said several non-Muslims were languishing in jails due to the misuse of the existing laws as religion was being used by some to attain power. Reviewing the existing laws has become the need of the hour, he added.

Dr Shireen Mazari of PTI also supported his views and said Parliament should at least remove the lacunas, if any, from the existing blasphemy laws.

PTI’s Dr. Arif Alvi also supported the idea of revamping the existing laws. In response,

Sahibzada Mohammad Yaqoob of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) defended the blasphemy laws and asked Hashmi to move a bill seeking an amendment to the law or to approach the CII or the Federal Shariat Court.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25th, 2013.