Published: September 17, 2009
LAHORE - Agreeing that blasphemy law was being widely misused, Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer said on Thursday that it should be repealed to protect religious minorities from religious extremists.
Talking to newsmen at an iftar dinner hosted in his honour by PPP’s Lahore chapter, the Governor agreed with a questioner that in the wake of growing incidents of Christian’s persecution by religious extremists, blasphemy law should be abolished.
PPP’s Lahore President, Asghar Gujjar, General Secretary Akbar Khan, Secretary Information Asghar Gujjar and other party leaders including Hafeez Malik, Aurangzeb Burki, Altaf Qureshi, S.M Masood, Sajida Mir and Munawar Anjum attended the function among others. Absence of PPP’s Punjab organization was conspicuous on the occasion.
Salmaan Taseer said that it was responsibility of state to take special care of religious minorities. He said he would not put the blame on Punjab government for Gojra incident, because “whenever I talk about Punjab government it seems as if the earth has started trembling”. He was of the view that incidents like Gojra were taking place due to religious extremism, “whose seeds, he said, were sown long ago and now we were reaping the crop”.
Replying to a question about PML-N’s decision to bring a resolution in the Parliament over President Zardari’s disclosures about Musharraf’s ouster, Taseer said it was democratic right of all parties to table resolutions in National Assembly on any issue. He, however, said that former president had to resign as a result of political pressure applied on him by PPP. He said Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto’s return to the country in 2007 was also made possible through political pressure. Salmaan said it would be incorrect to say that PPP struck any deal with Musharraf in return for his ouster from the Presidency.
(The Nation)
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