Perpetrators of such crimes often find protection , support and patronage from individuals belonging to shrines and religious seminaries. Defying the law, Patron figures publicly sanctify the forced conversions and marriages of minority girls without any fear of being prosecuted by state. Absence of appropriate legislation like separate marriage acts for Minorities, Vague and religiocised legal codes, provide the source and justification for such crimes. And in cases where the Constitution has provisions for safeguarding the minorities, implementation is always the missing link. Law enforcement bodies display unwillingness to prosecute the perpetuators. Atrocities are not only fate of religious Minorities , but are also being inflicted upon political activists belonging to nationalist parties in Sindh, who are often subjected to extra-judicial treatment like enforced disappearances and deaths e.t.c. Sadly a university student namely Asif Panhwar is the latest victim. Dear sir, I would also like to draw attention of this Forum to the alarming issue of the misuse of controversial Blasphemy Law. Countless people, from ordinary citizens to university academicians, belonging to every faith, have fallen victim to this law. During this year a famous rights activists and lawyer Mr. Rashid Rehman, who was also regional coordinator for Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Was shot dead in his chamber for taking up the case of a blasphemy accused university lecturer, currently imprisoned, namely Mr. Junaid Hafeez. Mr. Rehman, was first threatened publicly inside the court premises for taking up the case in the court of the law and later on killed. Other prominent Political figures including Salman Taseer, a sitting governor by then, and Mr. Shahbaz Bhatti, ministers of Minorities by then, have already sacrificed their life for demanding the public debate of Blasphemy law. During the military regime of General Zia, under the programme to reinforce and promote ultra-religious doctrines, the British-times blasphemy law was revived and ammened and section-295 was inserted into the penal code of Pakistan. Section 295 provided for the death penalty for blasphemy. Fears of misuse of law, which now carried death penalty, became real soon after. Pakistani society witnessed a sudden surge in blasphemy accusations. Rights organisations were able to establish on the basis of concrete evidences that in many case the law was invoked to grab property or to settle a personal score or to cause defeat to rivals. Dear sir,

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