Pakistan's conservative clerics criticize Pope over blasphemy row

(January 12, 2011) In Pakistan, an alliance of Islamist groups criticized Pope Benedict XVI's call to repeal Pakistan's controversial anti-blasphemy law, a news report said on Tuesday. An alliance of eight Sunni Muslim groups was planning to hold nationwide rallies on Friday to protest the Pope's comments, their leader was quoted as saying by the “Dawn” daily. "The Pope's statement is part of a conspiracy to pit the world's religions against each other," said Sahibzada Fazal Karim, a parliamentarian and the head of Sunni Ittehad, an alliance of eight organizations of the conservative school of Sunni Islam. The pontiff's comments were also "a violation of the UN's charter of peace," said Karim, urging the government to lodge an official protest for interference in the country's internal affairs.
The Pope on Monday urged Islamabad to repeal the anti-blasphemy law "all the more so because it is clear that it serves as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities." The law has attracted renewed criticism since November, when a Christian woman named Asia Bibi was sentenced to death by hanging on a charge of making derogatory remarks about the prophet Mohammad.
Last week, governor of Punjab province Salman Taseer was shot dead by one of his security guards allegedly for supporting the woman and campaigning for amendments in the blasphemy laws. Most of Pakistan's Islamic groups have refrained from condemning the assassination. Rallies have taken place to support Malik Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed assassin.