ISLAMABAD: Leader of House in the Senate Raja Zafarul Haq expressed concern on Monday over growing cases of blasphemy in the country and stressed the need for a long-tem solution to the problem.

“There is a need to set up interfaith committees at the district level to deal with the issue,” he said at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Religious Affairs, but regretted that his party, PML-N, was not taking the proposal seriously.

The meeting presided over by Senator Hafiz Hamdullah took notice of the lynching of a Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan for an alleged act of blasphemy.

Ilyas Khan, joint secretary of religious affairs ministry, informed the committee that the matter was in the Supreme Court and accused police of being negligent and failing to protect the couple.

The problem cannot be solved by merely awarding punishment, Senate committee told

Mr Haq noted that no concrete step had been taken to solve the problem. “This issue will not die down by merely awarding punishment to the people responsible.”

He said the proposed interfaith committees should comprise people from all religions and address any incident at the initial stage.

Mr Haq said there was a need to revamp laws made during the British era, adding that this could be done by the Ministry of Religious Affairs or the Council of Islamic Ideology.

When the committee members asked if the ruling PML-N would be willing to introduce a legislation to set up interfaith committees, he said: “I gave this proposal a couple of years ago, but I feel that it should be discussed before any decision.”

The senators criticised police for the Kot Radha Kishan lynching and said they could have taken the couple into protective custody.

Senator Hamdullah condemned the incident and said all those involved in it, including the cleric who made announcement from a mosque loudspeaker, should be dealt with in accordance with law. No individual had the right to issue decrees, he said, adding it was the responsibility of the state to protect minorities’ life, property and religious freedom.

Referring to a similar incident that took place in his home constituency of Gojra, PML-N Senator Hamza said people took the law into their own hands when announcements were made from mosques. “But the ground reality is that it becomes difficult to punish the arrested people,” he added.

The committee chairman said there were reports about the presence of Islamic State militants group in the country and asked the government to take the issue seriously.

The committee also discussed this year’s Haj operation and expressed satisfaction over its arrangements.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014