This is apropos of the article “Blasphemy Law Amendment” by Zubaida Mustafa (Dec 1). The article raises some important questions:

1) With reference to the blasphemy law the writer states, “It requires no profound wisdom to see that the law is being abused to settle personal scores”. Here I would like to enquire which law in our country has not been used to settle personal scores. The instances are innumerable. Most of us still remember the famous case of mid-70s, when a politician of an opponent party was accused of stealing a cow. Does it imply that the law against cattle-lifting be repealed?

2) Then she writes, “Isn't it strange that a law that is supposedly designed to deter blasphemy has actually led to a rise in the number of cases reported?”

Isn't it also a fact that the cases of car-jacking, mobile snatching, kidnapping for ransom, murder, etc. are all showing a sharp increase, despite the laws designed to deter these crimes? Therefore, according to the logic used by the writer all the related laws should either be amended or repealed.

Dr Tahir Anis

Karachi

Definition Blasphemy must be clearly defined by sensible thinkers and not mullahs. It is obvious that the followers of various religions believe that only they would go to paradise. Thus, if non-Muslims express the view that Muslims will not go to paradise, there is no reason to be shocked or surprised. Such a statement is not blasphemous.

Allah (swt) has made it clear in sura Al-kafiroon that kafirs can follow their 'deen', while we follow ours.

For centuries, we have been keeping the Holy Quran wrapped in silk. Our main emphasis has wrongly been on the sanctity of pieces of paper carrying scriptures. We fail to understand that the sanctity belongs to the actual divine message itself — and not the pieces of paper it is written upon. Would one apply the same sanctity to Quranic cassettes and CDs?

What about computer screens, newspapers, billboards, mobile phones, USBs, laptops and hard drives? Should we ban everything modern?

We would then go back to the 18th century when Ottomans declared that printing of the Holy Quran was 'haraam'.

Khalid A.

London