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....My father, because his country was founded in faith, and blood – a million people had died so that it could be made–could not say that the sentence was wrong; the sentence stood; all he sought for Aasia Bibi was clemency on humanitarian grounds. But it was enough to demand his head. What my father could never say was what I suspect he really felt: "The very idea of a blasphemy law is primitive; no woman, in any humane society, should die for what she says and thinks." And when finally my father sought the repeal of the laws that...

Over the past 30 years, under Pakistan’s laws criminalizing blasphemy against Islam, hundreds of Christians, Ahmadis, Hindus, Sikhs, and unorthodox and reformist Muslims have been tried and imprisoned by the state or killed by extremists. But even against this brutal background, the blasphemy-triggered January 4 assassination of Punjab governor Salman Taseer by one of his elite security detail may prove a defining moment.

ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistani military dictator Pervez Mushrarraf has said that the killer of Punjab governor Salmaan Tasser should be punished and not allowed to challenge the writ of the state, but pledged support for the controversial blasphemy law. "The assassination of Taseer was wrong and his murderer should be punished," Musharraf was quoted by The Express Tribune newspaper as telling a conference of his All Pakistan Muslim League part in London on Saturday. Mumtaz Qadri, the police guard who shot the governor, should not be permitted to challenge the state's writ, Musharraf said. Qadri, a member of the Elite Force...

Two Christian women were beaten and publically humiliated by Muslims in Pakistan by an angry mob over accusations of blasphemy. According to local media reports, the two women and their families are now in hiding for fear of being killed. According to Pakistani daily, The Express Tribune, a male member of the family said over the telephone, "None of our relatives is ready to let us stay with them. They fear the wrath of the extremists, particularly after the assassination of Salmaan Taseer." Taseer was a member of the Pakistani government recently assassinated for having advocated clemency for those accused of violating Islamic religious...

Just curious, but is anybody paying attention to what just happened in Pakistan? It's dribbled out in bits and pieces, but I don't recall anyone putting the whole picture in perspective. Here's what's happened. More than a year ago, Asia Bibi, a 45-year-old mother of five, was working in the fields in the Punjab province when some of the Muslim women working alongside her asked her to fetch water. When she returned, several women said they would not accept it because she was a Christian and therefore "unclean." Insults were exchanged and in the process Bibi made some insulting remarks...

For years, we’ve heard how the peaceful religion of Islam has been hijacked by extremists. What if it’s the other way around? Worse, what if the peaceful hijackers are losing their bid to take over the religion? That certainly seems to be the case in Pakistan. Salman Taseer, a popular Pakistani governor, was assassinated this week because he was critical of Pakistan’s blasphemy law. Specifically, Taseer was supportive of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who has been sentenced to death for “insulting Muhammad.” Bibi had offered some fellow farm laborers some water. They refused to drink it because Christian hands...

Mr Musharraf said rather than amend the legislation punishing those convicted of insulting Islam, Pakistan needed to ensure the laws were not abused. The laws have come under scrutiny after a Christian mother-of-five, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death for defaming the Prophet Mohammed in her Punjab village. Salman Taseer, governor of the state, was then killed by one of his own bodyguards for backing reform of the law, in an assassination exposing deep division between liberal and conservative Pakistan. Mr Musharraf said blasphemy was deeply sensitive in the country and doing away with it was not possible. He did...

PAKISTANI politicians have accused the Pope of interfering in state matters after he called for controversial blasphemy laws to be scrapped. Benedict XVI urged the Islamic nation to repeal the legislation -- which carries the death penalty for insulting Islam -- a week after the shooting of the governor of Punjab, who had criticised the laws. "I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law," the Pope said. "The tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction." He added that the legislation...

Asia Bibi is a 45-year-old christian mother of five, living in Pakistan, who has been sentenced to death under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. Her troubles began when she drank water out of communal cup and offered some to her Muslim neighbors as they did field work together. The Muslim women became indignant, believing that she had defiled the water, being a christian. An argument ensued, in which she confessed her faith, and in the process, exposed herself to “blasphemy” charges. Within a few days the accusation spread through the village, allegedly a mob of locals assaulted her (in the name of...

For years we've been hearing about how the peaceful religion of Islam has been hijacked by extremists. What if it's the other way around? Worse, what if the peaceful hijackers are losing their bid to take over the religion? That certainly seems to be the case in Pakistan. Salman Taseer, a popular Pakistani governor, was assassinated this week because he was critical of Pakistan's blasphemy law. Specifically, Taseer was supportive of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who has been sentenced to death for "insulting Muhammad." Bibi had offered some fellow farm laborers some water. They refused to drink it because...

e-mail this to a friend printable version » 01/12/2011 16:44PAKISTANBlasphemy law: Pope’s call highlights split in Pakistani societyby Jibran KhanRadical leaders and Islamic movements incite crowds and warn Christians against forming a party to repeal the law, a step that would bring chaos. The government denies it plans changes to the law. Civil society leaders appreciate Benedict XVI’s speech. Bilawal Bhutto defends minorities. Muslim intellectual calls for full religious freedom and a secular state. Lahore (AsiaNews) – The Pope’s call on Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy law shows how divided the country is. Radical leaders and Islamic movements are...

The Outsider January 6, 2011 - by Richard Fernandez The power of intimidation as a weapon has recently been on display all over the world. Recently, the Pakistani governor who spoke out against blasphemy was assassinated in Pakistan by an Islamist whose arrival in court resembled that of a rock star. Qadri, a former member of the security services who wormed his way into Governor Salman Taseer’s bodyguard. “The governor’s remarks had hurt the sentiments of Muslims and Qadri could not control his sentiments,” said one top TV anchor on a prime-time show. ” Qadri became an instant hero for...

Rawalpindi, Pakistan (CNN) -- At a frenzied Friday rally in this garrison city outside of Islamabad, thousands warned Pope Benedict XVI to keep his nose out of the debate over Pakistan's blasphemy laws. The demonstration came days after the Vatican called for Pakistan to repeal the controversial laws that say anyone who defiles the name of the Muslim prophet Mohammed should face the death penalty or life imprisonment. "If you challenge the prophet, we will take revenge. It doesn't matter who does it," shouted a cleric on loudspeakers to thousands of cheering onlookers. Pakistan's blasphemy laws came into sharp focus...

Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan, has joined the mourners paying tributes to Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province who was assassinated today for his opposition to the Islamic blasphemy law. Taseer, 66, was shot by his security guard when he emerged from lunch at a restaurant in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province. After pumping nine bullets into the governor, Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri lay down his gun, claiming that he carried it out to avenge his stand on the controversial blasphemy law. “I killed the governor because he termed the blasphemy law...

At a fashionable plaza in this serene Pakistani capital, a few dozen people gather in the evenings at the spot where provincial governor Salman Taseer was gunned down on Jan. 4. [Snip] Fifteen miles away, in a working-class alley of Rawalpindi, thousands of people flock each day to the home of Mumtaz Qadri, the elite police guard who killed Taseer. Qadri is in jail now, but the site has become a shrine to what many Pakistanis see as his heroic act against a blasphemer who insulted their prophet. Someone has even put up posters of Qadri riding a white horse...

The governor of Pakistan's powerful Punjab province has been killed by one of his own guards at a market in the capital Islamabad, police have said. It was the most high-profile assassination of a political figure in the country since former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was killed in December 2007. The latest victim, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by a member of his elite security team after he reached Khosar Market, police said. Witnesses reportedly claimed a man fired two shots at the governor as he was leaving his vehicle. One said: "The governor fell down and the man who...