Sharia call

The country’s leading court for the implementation of sharia law has called on the government to impose the death penalty as the only recourse in law for the crime of blasphemy. The Federal Court for the Sharia has stated that alternative sentences for those guilty of insulting Islam are unacceptable as such an offence is “intolerable”.

The call provides a political headache for the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in its efforts both to court Western powers in the ongoing struggle again al Qaeda and Taliban factions, and maintain order in a predominantly Muslim nation.