Political mileage: Blasphemy laws should not be politicised, says Mufti Naeem

Mufti Naeem says religious forces should avoid issuing statements and taking out rallies on the blasphemy laws.

Blasphemy laws should not be politicised and religious forces should avoid issuing statements and taking out rallies on the issue, Mufti Muhammad Naeem, a renowned cleric belonging to the Deobandi school of thought and a prominent cleric of Jamia Binoria’s Al Alamiya Trust, Site, Karachi, said on Sunday.

In an interview with BBC, he said that some elements were trying to exploit the controversy raging over blasphemy laws and extract political mileage out of it, adding that the matter should be resolved politically. Criticising elements who were “trying to glorify” the self-confessed killer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer, he urged clerics to desist from painting him as a ‘hero’, Mufti Naeem said that “extra-judicial actions are wrong”. Any action to the contrary would lead to anarchy in the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 17^th, 2011.