Pakistan on Strike over Blasphemy Laws
Businesses were shut across Pakistan on Friday in a protest strike over moves to amend a blasphemy law that permits the death penalty and which rights campaigners say encourages Islamist extremism.
Conservative religious groups called for a national strike in a bid to block any intended amendment after thousands of Islamists rallied in major cities last week.
The strike went ahead despite a categorical announcement by deputy information minister Samsam Bokhari on Thursday that the government had no intention to amend the controversial law.
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Former Information Minister Sherry Rehman from the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) sparked fury when he lodged a private member’s bill seeking to abolish the death penalty for blasphemy.
Pakistan provoked international condemnation after the death sentence was passed on a Christian woman found guilty of defaming the Prophet Mohammed.