JuD linked protesters oppose pardon for Pakistani Christian

A front organisation of the Jamaat-ud-Dawah today organised protests across Pakistan's Punjab province, warning President Asif Ali Zardari not to pardon a Christian woman sentenced to death for allegedly committing blasphemy.

The Tehrik Hurmat-e-Rasool or Movement for Protection of the Prophet's Honour, which has close links to the JuD, organised protests at Sheikhupura, Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Multan, Nankana Sahib and Lahore, where hundreds of activists joined a rally near the governor's house.

Leaders of the group shouted slogans against the US and Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, who has petitioned the President to use his constitutional powers to pardon 45-year-old Asia Bibi, the Christian woman sentenced to death by a lower court in the province.

The protestors also warned NGOs and rights groups not to make any move for the repeal of the blasphemy law that was used to charge Asia Bibi.

Tehrik leaders Amir Hamza and Qari Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh, who addressed the protestors in Lahore, accused the West of having double standards and questioned why the Pope did not speak out against blasphemous cartoons of prophet Mohammed printed in European newspapers.

The leaders said their group would launch more protests across the country if the president pardoned Asia Bibi or if the government allowed her to leave the country.

Asia Bibi's case has outraged Pakistani liberals and rights groups who have called for the repeal of the blasphemy law, saying it is often misused to persecute Christians and other minorities.

Pope Benedict XVI has made a personal appeal for her release.

Over the past few days, religious parties like the Jamaat-e-Islami, Almi Tanzeem Ahle Sunnat and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam have organised protests across Pakistan and warned the president not to pardon Asia Bibi.

Much of the ire of these groups has been directed against Zardari and Taseer, who has been particularly vocal about the misuse of the blasphemy law.

Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan has condemned the campaign launched by Taseer and the "secular lobby" for Asia Bibi's release and said the people will "foil every conspiracy" to abolish the blasphemy law.

Any move to scrap the law will be the "last nail in the coffin" of the Pakistan People's Party-led government, he claimed.

Hasan said the Jamaat-e-Islami will consult other political and religious parties to frame "a joint line of action against the secular lobby's designs".

Foreign funded NGOs with an "anti-Islam" agenda were pressuring the government to free the Christian woman, Hasan alleged.

Asia Bibi's case dates back to last year, when a Muslim cleric accused her of blasphemy shortly after she had a row with some Muslim women while working on a farm.

She has said she was falsely accused.

She has been jailed since her arrest 18 months ago and a court sentenced her to hang after convicting her of insulting the prophet earlier this month.

This is the first time a woman has been condemned to death under the blasphemy law. Her lawyer has filed an appeal in a higher court in Lahore.

Zardari has asked for a review of her case, raising the possibility of a presidential pardon.

Minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, himself a Christian, said he would deliver his recommendations to the president tomorrow.

He also said he is convinced Asia Bibi is innocent.

Bhatti has campaigned against the blasphemy law, which was introduced by President Zia ul-Haq's military regime in the 1980s.

Hard-line groups threatened to behead Bhatti six months ago when he proposed changes to the law.