Pakistan’s blasphemy law is a tool for persecution and its tyranny reflects the grip of religious extremism on political culture, says Kamila Shamsie, in the upcoming issue of the Index on Censorship magazine
Shahbaz Bhatti, the minister for religious minorities has been assassinated . Bhatti, a Christian, was a vocal opponent of the controversial blasphemy law and had repeatedly asked for it to be reformed. Pamphlets found at the scene of his killing warned of a similar fate for anyone opposed to the blasphemy law. His killing comes barely two months after Salman Taseer was killed for calling the law to be amended.