ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday said his government would not allow anyone to misuse the blasphemy law. “We are neither in favour to amend the blasphemy laws nor we will allow anyone to misuse it,” the prime minister said while addressing the Ulema and Mashaikh Conference 2011 held here.
It was the first official conference since the assassination of Salman Taseer, who was killed by one of his official guards, for his views on the blasphemy law. Gilani urged religious scholars to portray true picture of Islam and propagate its teachings of tolerance and mutual respect for all religions.
He quoted the verses from holy Quran and said that there was no concept of use of force to make the people embrace Islam.
“Islam was not spread through sword but by the teachings of scholars and Sufis. The life of holy prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him) clearly exhibits that nobody should be forced to adopt and adhere to any particular religion,” he said.
He informed the participants that the government had formed a body to see if any bill were to be moved by the legislators in their private capacity.
In respond to a point raised by the participants, he said that the issue of syllabus for religious seminaries would be referred to the inter-provincial coordination (IPCC) ministry. To a query about the PPP’s policy of reconciliation, he said the government had been taking all parties on board while taking major decisions. “Even I gave extension to the judge who had sentenced me and forgave all who kept me in jail for five years,” he said.
He said that role of religious scholars was important as they could play their role against terrorism and extremism.
Dozens of religious scholars belonging to various schools of thought attended the conference. They included: Allama Azhar-ul-Haq Bokhari, Allama Zubair Ahmed Zaheer,Allama Niaz Hussain Naqvi, Maulana Abdul Malik, Maulana Muhammad Yaseen Zafar, Maulana Hanif Jalandhri, Ghulam Muhammad Sialvi, Maulana Kabir Azad, Raghib Hussain Naeemi and Allama Sajjad Hussain Naqvi. They said some so-called clerics were distorting Islam for their ‘vested interests’. They assured their support to the government in protecting life, property and honour of minorities.
