Islamic cleric says former Pak Minister's letter to UN on blasphemy bid to invite 'foreign intervention'

Addressing the press conference Ashrafi said when all the legal forums were available for the redressal of such issues in the country, why she dragged the international watchdog into the matter, News International reported

He further said that, if Mazari was not feeling comfortable with the national institutions such as the judiciary, Council of Islamic Ideology and Muttahida Ulema Board (MUB) Punjab, she could have approached the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation instead of the UN, the report said.

Ashrafi expressed his fear that Mazari's letter would help those who were against this law since day one and had been making efforts to abolish or weaken it through all possible means. He further added that it may also create serious problems for Pakistan to get out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The cleric also said that he had appealed to the Punjab Home Secretary, Inspector General of Police, Interior Minister and Federal Investigation Agency to forward all the blasphemous cases to Ulema Board to decide their maintainability without any discrimination.

In a recent study on the blasphemy issue in Pakistan, a local Think Tank, the Centre for Research and Security Studies revealed that from 1947 to 2021, as many as 89 people were extra-judicially killed over blasphemy accusations in the country. (ANI)