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Law Minister Zahid Hamid accused of blasphemy for dropping religious oath from electoral law
Thomson Reuters
Posted: Nov 26, 2017 10:54 PM ET
Last Updated: Nov 26, 2017 10:54 PM ET
A Pakistani Islamist group whose supporters clashed with the police over the weekend is to call off its weeks-long protest after the government agreed to its demands and the law minister resigned, its spokesperson said on Monday.
“Our main demand has been accepted,” Ejaz Ashrafi, spokesperson of the Tahreek-e-Labaik group, told Reuters. “Government will announce the law minister’s resignation and we will end our sit-in today.”
Law Minister Zahid Hamid has resigned, state-run news channel PTV said on Monday. The Islamist group had blocked the entrance to Islamabad, the capital, for several days before police on Saturday failed in a bid to disperse the protesters, setting off demonstrations in other major cities.
Tahreek-e-Labaik activists accused the law minister of blasphemy against Islam and demanded his dismissal and arrest.
They blamed Hamid for the wording in an electoral law that changed a religious oath proclaiming Mohammad the last prophet of Islam to the words “I believe,” a change the party says amounts to blasphemy.
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