[Pak Daily Times] Pakistain People's Party MNA Sherry Rehman, while lending support to blasphemy convict Aasia Bibi, on Monday called for urgent amendments to the country's blasphemy laws. Rehman submitted a private members' bill in the National Assembly Secretariat calling for an end to death penalty for blasphemy, and will chair a roundtable conference today (Tuesday) on amendments to these laws. The conference, to be organised under the auspices of the Jinnah Institute, of which Rehman is president, will engage academics, lawyers and other members of civil society in an open discussion on the amendments to the blasphemy laws.
It will highlight the case of Aasia Bibi and the blatant abuse of the legislation in bringing false claims against members of minority communities. The participants will include Supreme Court Bar Association President Asma Jahangir, HRCP General Secretary Hina Jilani, National Commission on the status of Women Chairman Anis Haroon, Minister for Minority Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, Ali Dayan Hasan, former chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology Dr Khalid Masood and religious scholar Javed Ghamdi.
A blurb issued by the Jinnah Institute on Monday read: "The blasphemy laws as set out in the Pakistain Penal Code (sections 295 and 298) find their roots in British colonial law and have in their present form become a source of victimisation and persecution of the minorities in the country. The amendments to the blasphemy laws is intended to ensure that all citizens of the country have an equal right to constitutional protection and that miscarriages of justice in the name of blasphemy are avoided at all costs. The bill amends both the Pakistain Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure, the two main sources of criminal law. The aim is to amend the codes to ensure protection of minorities and vulnerable citizens."