ISLAMABAD, July 14: The All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA) has asked the government to engage representatives from the minority communities in the consultation process on blasphemy laws before the bill was presented to the cabinet.

The APMA leader, Shehbaz Bhatti, was speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday. "These discriminatory laws have been used to marginalize the minority community," he said.

"The APMA will reject any discriminatory law forced upon the minorities," said Mr Bhatti. The minority alliance leader said, from 1927 to 1982, there were only nine cases registered under the blasphemy law. Between 1982 and 2004, more than 4,000 cases were registered under the law, he added.

"Misuse of blasphemy laws started after 1985 when the courts decided that punishment for blasphemy was life sentence. "The minorities faced immense problems when in 1990 the Federal Shariat Court decided death sentence as punishment for those convicted under the blasphemy laws," Mr Bhatti said.

"A number of people have been killed in blasphemy cases before the version was heard. "Nemat Ahmad was the first minority to be killed under the blasphemy law without a trial.

He said Sameul Mashi was killed by a duty constable in jail and Lahore High Court witnessed murders of two persons after being declared innocent and set free by judge, Arif Iqbal Bhatti," the APMA leader said.

These laws had only increased incidents of violence against both the Muslims and Christians besides creating a widening gap between the two communities. Mr Bhatti also expressed concerns over pressures on session judges while processing the blasphemy cases.

The APMA president observed that section 295-B of the Blasphemy Act only focused the Holy Quran and not any other holy book while 295-C was only applied to cases of Blasphemy of the Holy Prophet and no other prophet and followers of the Holy Prophet.

"Therefore, these two sections of the Act do not clearly define blasphemy," he said. He further criticized the poor investigation process undertaken by the authorities in the blasphemy laws. "FIRs are registered by the police without any investigation," he said.