Pak Taliban threatens to target more blasphemy law reform supporters
March 3rd, 2011 - 2:49 pm ICT by ANI
Karachi, Mar 3(ANI): The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, the terror outfit that has claimed responsibility for the assassination of Minority Affairs Minister Shahbaz Bhatti has threatened to attack all those advocating reforms to the country’s controversial blasphemy laws.
Bhatti was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in Islamabad on Wednesday as he was leaving his house in Sector I-8 area of Islamabad.
He had joined former Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer in championing the case of Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman, who was sentenced to death last November for allegedly committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad.
“This man [Bhatti] was a known blasphemer of the Prophet [Muhammad],” the BBC quoted TTP’s deputy spokesman, Ahsanullah Ahsan, as saying.
“We will continue to target all those who speak against the law which punishes those who insult the prophet. Their fate will be the same,” he warned.
Bhatti, the Pakistani cabinet’s only Christian minister, had received death threats for urging reforms to the blasphemy laws, which carry a death sentence for anyone who insults Islam. Critics say it has been used to persecute minority faiths.
In January, Taseer was shot dead by one of his own bodyguards for championing the case of Aasia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian woman who was sentenced to death last November for allegedly committing blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad. (ANI)
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