ISLAMABAD: A petition with a contention that blasphemy law, and the subsequent capital punishment under it, does not apply to non-Muslims and women is likely to be filed in the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) tomorrow (Friday).
The petition drafted by Dr Muhammad Aslam Khaki, senior Supreme Court lawyer and noted teacher of Islamic Jurisprudence and Jurisconsult to the FSC, states that according to Muslim jurists, capital punishment for blasphemy could not be accorded to non-Muslims or women of any religion, including Islam.
Dr Khaki disagreed with the government’s decision of pardoning Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman awarded death sentence by a subordinate court, and sending her abroad on asylum. “If she is sent abroad, she will be a source of negative propaganda against the country and the religion like Mukhtaran Mai,” he said.
The expert said if a subordinate court had wrongly awarded capital punishment to Aasia, she could approach the FSC for justice. He, however, admitted that there were many lacunas and defects in the blasphemy law and the procedure, due to which the law was abused and the religion and the country got a bad name.
Khaki said in past, not only non-Muslims, but Muslims had also fallen victim to the law, however, he disagreed with the complete abolition of the blasphemy law. He said blasphemy law wain force in the UK which was only for the contempt of Jesus Christ, while Pakistani law was extensive and provided the same punishment for the contempt of any prophet.
Dr Khaki demanded the formation of a commission consisting of clerics, lawyers and civil society organisations for reviewing the law and the case of Aasia. He added that if convicts of blasphemy were sent abroad and given asylum, some people may commit this offence willfully to get asylum abroad.
