Pakistanis protest Pope's appeal on blasphemy laws

(January 14, 2011) Islamist protesters demonstrated in three cities of Pakistan on Friday against a call by Pope Benedict XVI to the country’s leaders to scrap its controversial blasphemy laws. The laws stipulate the death sentence for anyone insulting Islam's prophet, Muhammad, and life imprisonment for anyone who offends the Koran. Critics say the laws are often used to persecute Christians and other minorities or to settle personal vendettas. Right-wing Islamist groups have recently rallied their base against any move to dilute the laws after the sentencing of a Catholic woman, Asia Bibi, to death for blasphemy attracted international condemnation. Several hundred hard-liners protested Friday in Karachi and two other cities in support of the laws and against the Pope for his remarks. In an important annual address to the ambassadors to the Vatican, Pope Benedict on Monday encouraged the leaders of the predominantly Muslim nation to take the necessary steps to abrogate the laws, all the more so because it is clear that they serve as a pretext for acts of injustice and violence against religious minorities. Salman Taseer, the 66-year old outspoken and liberal governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province was shot dead in Islamabad on Jan. 4 by one of his bodyguards who told interrogators he was angry over the politician's opposition to blasphemy laws. The Pope said, “The tragic murder of the governor of Punjab shows the urgent need to make progress in this direction,” adding, “the worship of God furthers fraternity and love, not hatred and division.”