Rallies in Pakistan in defence of blasphemy law

Pakistani politician who has campaigned for changes to the legislation receives death threats as thousands of Muslims take to streets.

A man shouts slogans during a rally to show support for Pakistan’s blasphemy law in Karachi yesterday.

ISLAMABAD // Thousands of Muslims took part in rallies yesterday against any proposed changes in the country's blasphemy law as a legislator who has pushed for changes to it said she had received death threats.

One of the largest protest rallies was held in the southern port city of Karachi where an estimated 40,000 people gathered. Pamphlets were distributed there criticising Sherry Rehman, a ruling party legislator and former information minister, who has campaigned for amendments to the law.

Ms Rehman said yesterday she had received death threats and was now a target of a hate campaign by the hardline Islamists.

"The imam of the Sultan mosque said that if she messes with us, we will mess with her. He termed me a non-Muslim," Ms Rehman said, referring to a mosque in Karachi whose prayer leader had fulminated against her at yesterday's rally.

A pamphlet distributed by Tanzeem-e-Islami, a religious party that was one of the organisers of the protests, stated that ruling Pakistan Peoples' Party, through Ms Rehman, had dared to provoke the religious honour of Muslims. It urged followers to participate in the rallies to "stop the government's nefarious designs and throw them to dust".

The targeting of Ms Rehman came just days came after Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab province and a critic of the law, was shot dead on January 4 in Islamabad.

In fiery speeches yesterday, religious leaders defended the blasphemy law while participants at the rally in Karachi declared Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qaderi, the police guard who allegedly assassinated Taseer, a "hero".

Opposition politician Fazlur Rehman told the crowd that Taseer "was responsible for his own murder" because he had criticized the law.

Both Taseer and Ms Rehman have been at the forefront of a campaign to amend the blasphemy law. In doing so, they have run against fierce opposition religious parties, who have joined hands to thwart any government effort aimed at repealing or revising the law.

The interior minister, Rehman Malik, has twice advised Ms Rehman to leave the country until tempers calm down, an aide to Ms Rehman said.

"I am not leaving the country," Ms Rehman said yesterday. "It is the responsibility of the government to provide and ensure security."

She said a police security detail had been deployed outside her house yesterday.

"But it is not about today. It is about the next month and coming months," she said.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani said yesterday that he had talked with Maulana Fazalur Rehman, the religious leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam who had addressed the protest rally in Karachi earlier in the day, on the phone.

"He inquired about any proposed changes to the blasphemy law," Mr Gilani said. "I assured him that the government has no such intention."