ISLAMABAD, June 27: Speakers at a consultative workshop here on Sunday asked the government to repeal the blasphemy law and Hudood Ordinances, saying these laws have always been misused and caused intolerance in society.

The workshop - Repeal of blasphemy law and Hudood ordinances: A vision for a better Pakistan" - was organized by the National Commission for Justice and Peace.

A resolution passed on the occasion said the blasphemy law, which consisted of sections 295-B,C; 298-A, B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), had caused irreparable damage to peace and harmony by creating conflicts and intolerance in society. The law has been used for settling personal disputes by exploiting the religion, it added.

"Thousands of citizens, including men, women and children, Muslims as well as non-Muslims, have suffered due to these ambiguous and ill-intentioned laws," it stated.

It added that more than 10,000 cases were being instituted in Pakistan annually under the Hudood Ordinances and majority of the victims were women.

Two independent commissions had recommended the repeal of Hudood Ordinances. As many as 95 per cent of the accused women were not proven guilty in courts due to lake of witnesses while no action was taken against those who had tarnished the characters of the accused, which was against Shariat as it directed 80 lashes for those who accused a woman of adultery and failed to prove it.

The forum demanded repeal of the Hudood related ordinances, including the offence against property ordinance (IV), Zina ordinance (VII), Qazaf ordinance (VII), the punishment of whipping (order No XI) and sections 295-B&C, 298 A,B&C of the PPC.

In reply to questions, National Commission on the Status of Women in Pakistan chairperson Justice (retired) Majida Rizvi said there were no punishment in the holy Quran for the offence of drinking; however, in the Hudood Ordinances there were 80 lashes fixed for the offence which, she said, was un-Islamic. She said if there was no punishment mentioned in the Quran for an offence, it did not attract Hud and could not be included in the Hudood related laws.

Hud meant the specific punishment for any offence in the Quran. She termed the Hudood law an incongruous and dangerous combination of the PPC and Hud invented and implemented by a military general through the help of a Saudi religious scholar to control society.

Jamila Aslam, Sarwar Bari and Mazhar Arif discussed the role of the middle class in reforming society. Due to the propaganda by the state and military establishment in favour of the so- called Islamization of Pakistan, half of the middle class were unable to differentiate between the man-made laws and the true spirit of Islam, they said.

Resultantly, almost half of the middle class supported the so-called Jihadi organizations and extremists through donations, while the remaining half were following moderation. "That's why no consensus could be developed in the middle class regarding the existing ills in society."

Peter Jacob and Romana Bashir asked for propagation of intra-religious peace and harmony. After the implementation of the controversial laws, they said, society had witnessed crime rate going up disproportionately.