PPP govt begins to take blasphemy accused seriously

In an apparent bid to woo conservative forces, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led government has instructed all provinces to compile details of the cases registered recently under the Blasphemy Law, Pakistan Today has learnt.
In this regard, the Interior Ministry has forwarded a letter to the Home departments of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan. The notification further says that the persons nominated in blasphemy cases be apprehended and presented before the courts before the end of the ongoing year, sources in the Sindh Home Department told Pakistan Today. They said the PPP government wanted to remove the perception that it had no interest in implementing Sharia laws, and that the notification was meant to appease religious-minded people. Since its inception, the PPP has been maintaining the impression that it opposes religious extremism and fundamentalism. Its present government invited widespread criticism from conservative forces two years ago after a few of its members called for changing the Blasphemy Law. Rightwing parties alleged that the PPP was acting under pressure by western powers. The assassination of former Punjab governor and PPP leader Salmaan Taseer over his opposition to the Blasphemy Law forced PPP ministers to claim that they had no intention of amending it.
But after issuing the aforementioned notification, the government is launching a crackdown against those who had been officially nominated in blasphemy cases, sources said. The decision also indicates that the government plans to remove the PPP’s secular image among the masses, they added.
They further said that the authorities had issued several arrest warrants against those accused of blasphemy across the country, including Aamer Ali, Shaban Shahzad, Muhammad Umer Shahzad and Fayaz Ali from Sialkot, and Raheel, Zafar Iqbal, Sajjad Haider, Khalid Masood, Waseem Khokhar, Amer Kalson, Yousaf Rafiq, and Ateeq Joseph from Karachi. The law-enforcement agencies have been conducting raids to arrest the accused nominated in blasphemy cases for the last several months, sources said, adding that several alleged blasphemers had sought asylum in other countries.