A Letter to Prime Minister Tony Blair from CLAAS U.K.

Mr. Shaukat Aziz, Prime Minister of Pakistan
(Correspondent CCNews Portal)

Dear Prime Minister;

CLAAS writer to you on the behalf of Pakistani Christians to request your support toward ending their persecution. We request that during your visit to Pakistan you raise the issues of the misuse of the blasphemy law and the exemption of Pakistani Christians from hudood and all other shariah law with the government of Pakistan.

The misuse blasphemy of laws has increased and has made it particularly difficult for Christians to live in Pakistan. Christians are living with a constant threat to their lives and in a last year alone, 8 blasphemy cases were registered against Christian(an all time high) on spurious charges, Bashir Masih (a Christian) was murdered on 30^th September 2006 in Bahawalpur jail (Pakistan).Bashir is not the only case, several innocent Christians have been murdered after being falsely accused of

blaspheming .Baba Bantu masih, Tahir Iqbal, Naimat Ahmer, Samuel Masih, Manzoor Masih ,Ashiq Nabi, are few of the many Pakistani Christians who were not even given the change to a fair trial. Many Christians have been in jail for several years because no judges are prepared to bring their cases to trial.

The blasphemy law provokes hatred and fury and encourages hostility towards minorities, particularly against Christians whose co-religionists in the west are blamed for the world ill.The law contributes to promote religious intolerance and when one Christians is accused it can lad to his family, friends and even the whole Christians neighborhood being attacked . In the recent years, several churches and Christian properties have been attacked and set to five; even whole villages were targeted by mobs of thousand of Muslims using ammunition .

The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan William during his visit to Pakistan last year raised this issue with Pakistani government and said “ I think it is widely recognized that the blasphemy laws is a major problem which this country has to tackle.”

The Hudood laws have also become tools for exploitation and are being frequently misused against women and religious minorities.CLAAS has been campaigning for its repeal or the exception of Christians from Hudood laws, as according to muslim scholars like Javed Gamdi, Shariah laws only apply to these who believe and follow the Quran and sunnah .As Christians witnesses are not admissible in some cases and Christians lawyers cannot appear in the court ,Christians find themselves defenceless and therefore do not expect a fair trail .However ,general laws are present in the country .

The Government is to date trying to evolve a consensus to amend the laws but the opposition (MMA) has threatened of dire consequences nevertheless,CLASS stands strong in its argument that Christian should be exempted from hudood and all other shariah laws .

Even his holiness , the late pope john paul II expressed his concern on the persecution of Christian with the president General pervaiz musharraf during his visit to the Vatican ,but unfortunately the present Government in spite of an enlightened moderate concept has still not taken

10-04-2007