London: June 5, 2010. (PCP) CLAAS, a charity providing free legal assistance to persecuted Christians in Pakistan, has welcomed a resolution on religious freedom in Pakistan passed by the European Parliament last month. The resolution, passed on May 20, expresses "deep concern" over the country's highly contentious blasphemy laws, which the resolution noted were "open to misuse". The resolution also calls for a "thoroughgoing review" of the blasphemy laws. It comes amid continued dialogue between the EU and Pakistan on human rights issues, a dialogue which has been taking place under the auspices of the Cooperation Agreement signed by the two in 2007. The issue of religious minorities was raised at the last meeting between the EU and Pakistani government held on March 25. The EU says it has consistently used its political dialogue with Pakistan to raise the issue of human rights. CLAAS and other Christian rights groups say the blasphemy laws have been misused by extremists to settle personal scores with Christians. Anyone found guilty of blasphemy faces execution or a lengthy prison sentence. Instead of being used to safeguard religious freedoms, CLAAS and other rights organisations say they are being misused by radical Muslims to settle personal scores against their Christian neighbours, with the effect of fostering widespread hatred towards religious minorities. This can be seen in a series of deadly attacks on Christian communities, in which dozens of homes have been burnt to the ground and Christians killed because of their faith. The worst incident in recent years was the attack last August on Christians living in Gojra, in which eight Christians were killed, six of whom were burnt to death. The Coordinator of CLAAS UK, Nasir Saeed, said the passing of the resolution was "great news". "The passing of this resolution is a great encouragement to CLAAS and other organisations like us who are working towards a common goal - that of seeing the blasphemy laws repealed and equality for religious minorities become a reality in Pakistan," he said. Mr Saeed said the development had only spurred CLAAS in its struggle to secure the same freedoms for Christians and other minorities as those currently enjoyed by members of Pakistan's majority Muslim community. He said that would not be possible without a change in the government's attitude towards minorities. He said: "Although this resolution is a very important and significant step for our work, we still have a lot of work to do before Christians in Pakistan can really say they are free to live and worship as Christians. As much as we can work towards this goal, the Pakistani government needs to start taking the necessary steps to grant equal rights to all of its citizens, and not simply those who belong to its favoured religion. Repealing the blasphemy laws would be an obvious first step."