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ATTARI: February 20, 2011. (Times of India) Hundreds of activists and representatives of Christian Front Punjab (CFP)
who had assembled at the Indo-Pak international border at Attari from various parts of the state carried out a demonstration on Saturday against Pakistan government for giving a death sentence to a Pakistani Christian woman, Aasia Bibi.
While demanding revoking of the orders of capital punishment, they also urged the international community to press upon the Pakistan government for scrapping of the blasphemy law that was allegedly misused to settle personal scores. According to the reports, Aasia Bibi, a mother to five children, was accused of uttering blasphemous words against Prophet Mohammad and was booked under the blasphemy law in 2009 by a court in Nankana Sahib district and was sentenced to death in November 2010.
The CFP president, Lawarance Chaudhary, handed over a memorandum to the local authorities for forwarding it to Pakistan High Commission, urging Pakistan president and Chief Justice of Pakistan to reconsider the report of Pakistan`s National Commission on Status of Women that had maintained that the case was filed against Aasia under pressure from influential people to settle personal scores.
Meanwhile, Bishop of Amritsar P K Samantaroy said that they had already taken-up the issue with various Christian bodies across the world to build-up a movement and generate pressure on Pakistan government for the scrapping of the blasphemy law. "It is unfortunate that Christians or other minority communities in Pakistan are targeted under the blasphemy law," said Samantaroy.
CFP president Lawrence Chaudhary claimed that Aasia, a labourer, was falsely implicated by Muslim women who were agitated by her drinking from the same well as them. According to the reports, Aasia was working in a field with Muslims laborers, when they got into an argument over her drinking of water from a well that belonged to Muslims. "To teach her a lesson, they implicated her in a false case," said Lawrence.
Lawrence said the protest will be the beginning of their agitation. "There are no Christian organizations in Pakistan that can dare to stage a demonstration in support of Aasia, so we have decided to begin a movement here," he said, adding that in the next phase of their agitation, they would gherao the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi. Lawrence said that even the minority commission of Pakistan had appealed to the Pakistan PM, Yusuf Raza Gilani, to acquit her, but he had dismissed their plea. Former governor of Pakistani Punjab Salman Taseer was killed when he had opposed the provisions of the law under which Aasia was sentenced. Taseer had also met Aasia in jail to assure her of justice and had urged the Pakistan President to pardon her. He had maintained that Aasia had not said anything disrespectful regarding Prophet Mohammad.
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"Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" By Nazir S Bhatti
On demand of our readers, I have decided to release E-Book version of "Trial of Pakistani Christian Nation" on website of PCP which can also be viewed on website of Pakistan Christian Congress www.pakistanchristiancongress.org . You can read chapter wise by clicking tab on left handside of PDF format of E-Book.