[Dawn] A strong voice for a reform of the controversial blasphemy law was raised in the National Assembly on Tuesday by politicians of the opposition Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is
Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations....
during a debate on Sunday's massacre of more than 81 Christians in a suicide kaboom at a Beautiful Downtown Peshawar
...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire.
church.
This was the first public opposition from a right-wing party to the Zia-era law, which prescribes the death penalty for blasphemy and which has often been allegedly misused against members of the Christian community, while the previously ruling PPP paid with the lives of a provincial governor and a federal minister more than two years ago for demanding a similar reform.
PTI president Makhdoom Javed Hashmi ignited the issue anew in brief remarks he made while interrupting the second day of the debate on the Peshawar bombing after making his main speech much earlier, and his proposal for safeguards against the misuse of the law enforced in the 1980s by then military ruler Gen Zia ul Haq
...the creepy-looking former dictator of Pakistain. Zia was an Islamic nutball who imposed his nutballery on the rest of the country with the enthusiastic assistance of the nation's religious parties, which are populated by other nutballs. He was appointed Chief of Army Staff in 1976 by Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, whom he hanged when he seized power. His time in office was a period of repression, with hundreds of thousands of political rivals, minorities, and journalists executed or tortured, including senior general officers convicted in coup-d'état plots, who would normally be above the law. As part of his alliance with the religious parties, his government helped run the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan, providing safe havens, American equipiment, Saudi money, and Pak handlers to selected mujaheddin. Zia died along with several of his top generals and admirals and the then United States Ambassador to Pakistain Arnold Lewis Raphel when he was assassinated in a suspicious air crash near Bahawalpur in 1988...was backed by three other members of his party.
"This blasphemy law was wrong," the veteran parliamentarian said, about provisions made in the country's criminal law that he also called "contrary to Islam", and said he had voted against it in violation of his then Pakistain Moslem League Party's discipline when it was brought to the house for approval.
But he said there was "still an opportunity" to rectify the situation and added: "We should do something about it."
The suggestion was backed PTI members Shireen Mazari, Arif Alvi and Lal Chand Mali in their speeches in the debate, but was opposed by a member of PTI-allied Jamaat-e-Islami
...
The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka
The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an
independentbranch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores...
, Sahibzada Mohammad Yaqub, who said the existing blasphemy law had "many advantages" for guard against insulting any prophet and asked Mr Hashmi to bring a new bill to the house or approach the Council of Islamic Ideology for advice if he were serious about his proposal.