Islamabad (AsiaNews) – Ashfaq Chaudhry, head of the Islamabad's chapter of the Pakistan People's Movement, has accused members of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA, a political alliance of six radical Islamic organisations), including opposition leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman, with blasphemy. Last Wednesday in parliament, MPs for the MMA tore up copies of the Women's Protection Bill containing verses from the Qur'an. Mr Chaudhry also charged MMA President Qazi Hussain Ahmed, and MMA Deputy Secretary General, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed. In his opinion, their action was offensive to all Pakistani Muslims, and they should be prosecuted under the blasphemy law and receive an exemplary punishment. The infamous blasphemy law refers to Section 295-b of Pakistan's Penal Code which provides for life in prison for desecrating the Qur'an.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad reacted immediately, rejecting the accusations. The MMA president did confirm the protest action against the Women's Protection Bill, but insisted that the draft legislation did not contain any verse from the Qur'an.

For Peter Jacob, executive secretary of the National Commission for Justice and Peace (an agency of the Catholic Bishops' Conferenc), this episode is but another example of how religion is used and abused for personal reasons.

"It is a serious incident since it took place in the highest assembly of the land," he told AsiaNews. "And the second time the government uses this law in an abusive manner. The first time was under then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, when some opposition lawmakers were accused of blasphemy because they made some comments about the Sharia".

Religion and the blasphemy provisions of the law are being increasingly abused, noted the Catholic activist.

In the past there were other incidents such as that involving Slamat Masih, who was accused of blasphemy for writing on the walls of a mosque even though he was illiterate, and that of Yousaf Masih, a street sweeper, also illiterate, who was equally charged for destroying sacred texts after he was told to burn some garbage and paper.

The National Commission for Justice and Peace does want to see MMA legislators judged in accordance with the law, but "not on the basis of the blasphemy law, which must be abolished"

By contrast, the Muttaheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) insists that MMA has desecrated the Qur'an, the Hadiths and the Sunna, and thus tarnished Pakistan's reputation. For this reason, it announced that it was going to petition the Supreme Court to move against the MMA.