Some 300 Christians marched on the legislature in Pakistan’s Punjab province, joining global calls for the repeal of the country’s draconian blasphemy laws days after a Christian lynching victim died in hospital. During the protest on June 8 in Lahore, the provincial capital, the protesters condemned the government for failing to stop recurrent Muslim mob attacks based on false alle-gations of blasphemy.
The demonstrators placed lit candles on a table around a pict-ure of Nazir Masih, the 74 year old Christian who died on June 3 days after a Muslim mob attacked and injured him in  Punjab’s Sar-godha district. “The government should stop patronizing extremist religious outfits. Minorities are now afraid to sleep fearing some-one will drop blasphemous mat-erial in front of their house. The whole community is punished resultantly,” said Samson Sala-mat, chairman of Rawadari Teh-reek, a group promoting peaceful coexistence among all segments of society, at the rally.
Salamat referred to the case of Masih who was attacked after rumours spread that he burned pages of the Quran on May 25. “We demand new legislation against false and fabricated blasphemy allegations and an independent inquiry into all bla-sphemy incidents and mob attacks on the Christian community,” Salamat said. On June 3, UK-based global Christian group, Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW), issued a strongly worded statement demanding the end of Pakistan’s blasphemy law.