Reform Pakistan’s blasphemy law – MPs

BRITISH MPs are calling on Pakistan to stop the persecution of Christians by reforming hardline blasphemy laws.

Almost 90 MPs signed an Early Day Motion after the murder of Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti Almost 90 MPs signed an Early Day Motion after the murder of Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti

Almost 90 MPs signed an Early Day Motion after the murder of Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, the only Christian in Pakistan’s Cabinet.

Mr Bhatti, 42, a high profile reformer, was riddled with bullets as he left his mother’s Islamabad home last month.

The Pakistani Taliban said they had assassinated Mr Bhatti, calling him a “known blasphemer”. Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, said Mr Bhatti had not received proper protection.

The blasphemy laws in Pakistan were introduced by Britain in 1860 but were radically transformed in 1986 by General Zia ul-Haq, then president.

Unlike the UK’s Racial and Religious Hatred Act, which protects all religions, Pakistan’s laws only protect Islam. Desecrating the Koran carries a life sentence, while blasphemy against the prophet Mohammed is punishable by death. Tory MP Andrew Stephenson highlighted the problem in a Parliamentary debate.

He said: “It is worrying that religious zealots in Pakistan have deemed man made laws non-negotiable, with a very real threat of death hanging over anyone who disagrees.”

Asia Bibi, 45, a mother of five, last year became the first Christian woman to be sentenced to death by hanging under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. She remains in jail after an international campaign against the sentence.

However, reformists have also been targeted, including Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, who was murdered in January by his bodyguard.

Heavily dependent on Western aid, Pakistan is accused of appeasing its religious Right-wing by abandoning plans for reform.

Scottish Catholic leader Cardinal Keith O’Brien criticised the British Government for increasing aid to Pakistan to £445million without demanding freedom for Christians.

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