Pakistan 'surrenders' to blasphemy law
By Catholic News Service
LAHORE, Pakistan - The head of the Catholic Church in Pakistan expressed outrage at the government’s decision to withdraw a private member’s bill proposing changes in the country’s blasphemy law, calling it “an act of surrender.”
“It’s a mistake giving in to pressure by Islamic parties,” Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, president of Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told the Asian church news agency UCA News. “The government has totally caved in and there seems no prospect of changes in the controversial legislation in the near future.”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly Feb. 2 that the government never intended to change the law and had disbanded the committee reviewing it. The blasphemy law makes insulting the Quran punishable by life imprisonment, and calls for the death penalty for insulting Mohammed.
“It’s a mistake giving in to pressure by Islamic parties,” Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore, president of Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ Conference, told the Asian church news agency UCA News. “The government has totally caved in and there seems no prospect of changes in the controversial legislation in the near future.”
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told the National Assembly Feb. 2 that the government never intended to change the law and had disbanded the committee reviewing it. The blasphemy law makes insulting the Quran punishable by life imprisonment, and calls for the death penalty for insulting Mohammed.
The premier also said that Sherry Rehman, the senior Pakistan People’s Party leader who introduced the bill, had decided to withdraw it.
The decision comes in the wake of the recent assassination of the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who was a vocal critic of the blasphemy law. Church leaders contend the law is being abused for personal gain and to harass non-Muslims.
Pope Benedict had urged Pakistan to the blasphemy laws following Taseer’s “tragic murder.”
“Many Christians are fearful of a Muslim backlash after the Pope’s appeal,” said Franciscan Father Abid Habib, president of the Major Superiors Leadership Conference of Pakistan.
News reports indicated Rehman had received death threats for introducing the bill.
“I have no other option but to abide by my party’s decision,” Rehman said Feb. 3. “The bill was not aiming to repeal the law, but to better protect our great Prophet Mohammed’s name against injustices. Policies to please extremists will be harmful.”
Saldanha agreed with the last point.
“Improving the law will bring more honour and respect to the prophet and the country. The poor and Christians have suffered a lot; even students are now afraid to speak, discuss or write about the prophet,” he said.
Earlier, Saldanha had been angered when participants in a rally supporting the country’s anti-blasphemy laws burned effigies of Pope Benedict XVI and the cross. He called for respect for all religious symbols.
“The Islamic radicals that have attacked the Pope, accusing him of interfering in the life of the country. They burned his effigy and the cross. For that, we are very sorry. As faithful Christians, this wounds us.
“We dissociate ourselves from every act of violence and we demand respect for all sacred symbols, whatever their religion.”
More than 40,000 people rallied in Lahore Jan. 30 to protest any change in the country’s blasphemy laws. Radical Islamic groups joining the Lahore demonstration burned effigies and mannequins of the Pope and of Shahbaz Bhatti, the federal minister for minorities. Bhatti, a Catholic, has received threats because of his efforts to secure religious freedom and equality for minority groups.
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