Pope to Pakistan: Repeal blasphemy law

Pope Benedict XVI

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/159588.html


Pope Benedict XVI has called on Pakistan to overturn the country's anti-blasphemy law and do much more to protect religious minorities from violent attacks.

In his annual New Year address to diplomats in the Vatican City on Monday, the pope said the death penalty for blasphemy charges was a pretext for violence against minorities, the Associated Press reported.

"I once more encourage the leaders of that country to take the necessary steps to abrogate that law, all the more so because it is clear that it serves as a pretext for acts of violence against religious minorities," he said.

In December, a draft bill which was aimed at amending the law was discussed in the lower house of parliament. The bill sought to abolish the death penalty for blasphemy charges.

The proposal triggered rallies in all major Pakistani cities, including Lahore, Karachi, Bahwalpur, Multan and Rawalpindi where thousands of demonstrators took to streets in protest to the bill.

Benedict's speech came just days after senior Pakistani politician Salman Taseer, who opposed the legislation, was assassinated by his own bodyguard.

More than 50,000 people took to the streets in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Sunday to protest the proposed amendment to the country's blasphemy law.

The demonstrators warned that any move seeking to soften the current blasphemy law would unleash a wave of nationwide protests.