Interior of Islamabad National Assembly. The Muslim Times’ collection on Free Speech
Source: World News Group
By Julia A. Seymour
Lawmakers in Pakistan are considering reforms to the country’s blasphemy laws that could help curb persecution against Christians and other minorities. The proposed reforms come amid ongoing persecution that ranges from discrimination to physical violence and false accusations of blasphemy that can land people in prison for life, or even incur a death sentence. And interreligious tension is worsening.
The situation is so bad for Christians and other minorities that the chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) once again called for majority-Muslim Pakistan to be officially designated a country of particular concern (CPC), following a recent visit to the country.
In a co-written commentary in The National Interest, USCIRF chair Katrina Lantos Swett condemned Pakistan’s blasphemy law as particularly egregious and said “religious minorities bear the brunt of it.” Currently, almost 40 people are serving life in prison or sit on death row for blasphemy convictions, the most in the world, according to Swett.
“We remain convinced that the State Department should designate Pakistan a ‘country of particular concern’ for its continued record of failure in protecting religious freedom,” Swett wrote. “Such a designation would elevate the discussion between Washington and Islamabad by signaling serious concern about current conditions.”
International Christian Concern supported the call for CPC designation and said blasphemy law reform is necessary.
