PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - A hardline, pro-Taliban Pakistani Muslim cleric Friday offered a reward
[about $6k]
for anyone who kills a Christian woman sentenced to death by a court on charges of insulting Islam.
[the other day a self professing "highly knowledgeable" fellow told me that "Christianity is as bad as Islam" I asked him how many Ministers set up reward funds for killing people who insulted Christianity? He told me I was a fool and left indignantly before I could ask him if he thought his synagogue's security upgrades had been funded to thwart Christian radicals]
The sentence against Asia Bibi has renewed debate about Pakistan's blasphemy law which critics say is used to persecute religious minorities, fan religious extremism and settle personal scores. Non-Muslim minorities account roughly 4 percent of Pakistan's about 170 million population. |