Members of the CII attending the conference on Wednesday also suggested amendments to Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, proposing the death penalty for people convicted of making false accusations.
“All the religious scholars agreed to put an end to the misuse of blasphemy laws,” Allama Tahir Ashrafi told news agency AFP. “Keeping in view the suggestions of human rights activists and civil society members, the Council of Ideology has decided to fix the same penalty for the person who falsely accuses of blasphemy as the accused,” he added.
Ashrafi said the proposed amendment would ensure that “nobody dares to use religion to settle personal scores”.
“The amendment will also silence critics of the blasphemy laws,” he added.
Re: Council of Islamic Ideology suggested amendments to blasphemy laws
Why do we have blasphemy laws again? If we must have them, why is the penalty death? It's not like anyone is going to get hurt if someone speaks their mind.
Re: Council of Islamic Ideology suggested amendments to blasphemy laws
Why do we have blasphemy laws again? If we must have them, why is the penalty death? It's not like anyone is going to get hurt if someone speaks their mind.
people have fickle emotions here in pakistan. and religious fundos pounce on those to make merry and divide an already polarised nation.
Re: Council of Islamic Ideology suggested amendments to blasphemy laws
Hardliners on the CII have scuttled this idea. They say that it is important to encourage people to come forward to report blasphemy, and that fear of death if the charges are not proven will discourage people from reporting real cases. They also have suggested that the council member who suggested the idea should step down and resign from the council
Re: Council of Islamic Ideology suggested amendments to blasphemy laws
Kudos to PTI for raising this issue in the parliament. Pakistan needs to get rid of this extraneous Council which is limiting the supremacy of the elected parliament. It should be the parliament of elected representatives that should be sole body responsible for law making, not a group of nominated mullahs. The culture of All Parties Conference also is undemocratic. Parliament is the place where elected representatives of the people decide on the matters for people. PTI should bring a bill in the parliament on this.