KARACHI
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Zardari has denounced the assassination of human rights activist Rashid Rehman in Multan and termed it a ‘despicable act of fanaticism and barbarity’ and demanded probe in the light of apprehensions expressed by the martyred.
In a statement on Thursday, Zardari said that what now needed was a transparent probe, early arrest of the criminals and exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the crime under the law.
He paid tributes to the deceased as a martyr who laid down his life for the cause of human rights and in defending those accused of assorted crimes by fanatics and extremists in the name of religion.
The former president said the public statements by the assassinated lawyer of receiving threats because of his defence of a blasphemy accused should serve as the starting point of transparent investigation.
In April, Rashid Rehman was reportedly threatened inside a courtroom in Multan to desist from defending a blasphemy accused or face extermination.
The former president said that it was a matter of grave concern that the human rights activist was not only threatened inside a court room but within less than a month the threat was also actually carried out.
Zardari said it was a matter of abiding shame and pain that people accused of religious crimes were being increasingly denied the right to a fair trial even after especially incorporating it in the 18th constitutional amendment.
It is time that all stake holders worked together to ensure that blasphemy law is not misused in the manner it has been so grossly misused ever since the law was amended by Zia’s military dictatorship, he said.
