Thousands rally in Pakistan for blasphemy laws - Washington Post

The rally of up to 50,000 people in downtown Karachi was one of the largest demonstrations of support for the laws, which make insulting Islam a capital offense. It was organized before the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was shot dead on Tuesday in Islamabad by a bodyguard who told a court he considered Taseer a blasphemer.

Muslim groups have praised the bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, and have used Taseer's death to warn others not to speak out against the much-derided laws.

The size of the Karachi rally, which was large even by the standards of the city of 16 million, showed how bitter the argument is over the decades-old laws.

Although courts typically overturn blasphemy convictions and no executions have been carried out, rights activists say the laws are used to settle rivalries and persecute religious minorities.

Amid the threats from groups defending the law, the prime minister ruled out any changes to the legislation on Sunday, even as one of his key Cabinet ministers promised reforms were still on the agenda.

"This huge rally today has categorically signaled that nobody could dare to amend the blasphemy law," said Fazlur Rehman, the key speaker at Sunday's demonstration and head of the Taliban-linked conservative religious party Jamiat Ulema Islam.

"If the rulers are out to defend Taseer, so we also have the right to legally defend Mumtaz Qadri," he told the crowd.

He said Taseer "was responsible for his own murder" because he had criticized the law.

The laws came under renewed international scrutiny late last year when a 45-year-old Christian woman, Asia Bibi, was sentenced to death for allegedly insulting Islam's prophet.

People accused of blasphemy are often killed by extremists or spend significant amounts of time behind bars. In some cases, the charges border on the ridiculous: A man was recently held because he threw away a business card of someone whose first name is Muhammad.

The Karachi rally represented all major Muslim groups and sects in Pakistan's most populous city and was one of the few to bring together moderate and conservative Muslims. Police officer Irshad Sehar estimated 40,000 to 50,000 people attended.