Blasphemy laws invite abuse but clerics resist amendment

When Ashiq Nabi was murdered by his own villagers late last month, he became just another addition to the list of Pakistanis killed in the name of religion.

An unemployed labourer in his 30s and father of four children, Nabi reportedly tore and threw away a copy of the Koran when his wife tried to get him to swear by it during a heated family squabble.

Shocked and furious over her husband's actions, the wife broke the news to her cousins. The news soon spread, triggering rage among the illiterate villagers. The local cleric declared Nabi an infidel and charged him with blasphemy, a crime punishable by death.

Soon, a crowd of more than 400 angry villagers and students from the religious seminaries was at Nabi's door.

Fearing for his life, Nabi fled the scene, but the mob chased him through the fields throwing stones at him. A terrified Nabi finally managed to seek refuge up a tree, pleading for his life before someone among the crowd pulled out a gun and shot him dead.

The horrific incident in Spin Khak, a little town in Northwest Frontier Province 120km south of Islamabad, shows how Pakistan's much-criticised blasphemy law remains open to abuse by those pursuing a personal vendetta.

'It is beyond imagination that such an incident can take place in the 21st century,' said Asma Jahangir, lawyer and former chairman of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission.