“Lobby opposed to religious circles” could have inspired Bhatti’s murder: Fazl
March 5th, 2011 - 3:48 pm ICT by ANIIslamabad, Mar 5(ANI): The assassination of Pakistan Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti is being given a religious colour to pressurise religious circles in the country on the pretext of the controversial blasphemy law, Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said.
During heated arguments in the National Assembly over the security situation in Islamabad and the rest of the country, Fazl touched on the blasphemy law while most others hesitated to do so.
He said he thought Bhatti’s murder could have been inspired by what he called “a lobby opposed to religious circles” to put them under a new pressure on the pretext of the blasphemy law, the Dawn reports.
In what seemed to be a gesture of change in a previous hard line on the blasphemy law reforms issue, the JUI-F chief said that although attacking procedures often reflected an intent to block the application of a law, “if a law is being misused against minorities, we are ready to discuss this (matter)”.
Fazl pointed out that the JUI-F and some other religious parties had terminated a ‘Tahafuz Namoos-i-Risalat’ campaign launched last year after the government’s assurances that it did not intend to make any amendment to the blasphemy law.
“Such acts (of violence now) amount to taking the law and Constitution in one’s own hands,” he added.
Fazl also asked the government to “accept its responsibilities” to maintain law and order, and said that “law should come into action”. (ANI)
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Tags: acts of violence, affairs minister, assurances, blasphemy law, constitution, dawn, gesture, islam, islamabad, law and order, law reforms, minorities, minority affairs, national assembly, pretext, rehman, religious circles, religious parties, security situation, shahbaz