He wasn’t warning those who accuse people falsely against taking vigilante action — oh, no. He was warning blasphemers that they could expect mobs to murder them. “Punjab Assembly: Blasphemers told to stop or “˜face consequences,– by Abdul Manan in the Express Tribune, January 6 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
LAHORE: Planning and Development Minister Chaudhry Abdul Ghafoor on Friday said that peace and order in the province could not be guaranteed if blasphemy against the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) continued. He said the faithful would not always wait for court orders in such cases.
The Punjab Assembly resumed its session, some 20 minutes after the scheduled time, 9am.
Ghafoor suggested that the minority members should wait until the court decided Aasia Bibi’s fate. He said, “If blasphemers continue, the society will produce another Ghazi Ilmuddin Shaheed.”
Earlier, Muhammad Ilyas Chinioti, a PML-N MPA from Jhang, during the debate over law and order situation, also said that minorities should refrain from discussing Aasia Bibi’s case, till the court hearing her appeal gave its final verdict.
He was referring to a speech by Malik Perveiz Rafique, an MPA on a reserve seat, on Thursday, in which he had expressed his reservations over the insecurity minority citizens in Punjab faced. He had also spoken in support of Aasia Bibi.
Rafique had demanded that the government do more to provide security to the minorities and their worship places. He had also appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to act against the clerics who were publically supporting Mumtaz Qadri, the self-confessed killer of former Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer. Rafique regretted that Qadri was given “˜protocol” in jail, while Aasia Bibi’s life was in the “˜barrack.”…
MPA Najmi Saleem condemned the minister’s statement and accused the Punjab government of discrimination against minorities. She said that while minority members respected for the court, the PML-N did not.
“It’s strange that the honourable Muslim minister is talking about killing people, though his religion prohibits killings of innocent people,” she said.
“Innocent” is the key word in that sentence.