Police prevent clerics’ rally against blasphemy

islamabad — Police blocked a rally on Friday in Islamabad by clerics seeking to press their calls for the death of social media activists accused of disrespecting Islam — an offence punishable by death in the country.

Hundreds of security forces sealed off and surrounded the Red Mosque, long seen as a refuge for radicals in the Pakistani capital, and the home of a religious leader, Maulana Abdul Aziz, preventing his followers from staging the gathering.

The clerics vowed to try again next week, having already launched blasphemy charges in the Islamabad High Court against five bloggers, who were held for nearly three weeks in January.

The bloggers — who went missing but were later returned unhurt to their families — have accused Pakistan’s intelligence agency of orchestrating their disappearance because of their criticism of the military and intelligence agencies.

Before their release, hardliners raised the accusations of blasphemy. Abdul Aziz’ son-inlaw and follower, Salman Shahid, went to court to charge all five bloggers with blasphemy. The five have since fled the country after also receiving death threats.

Amid the hearings in the court case, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government launched a campaign in an effort to rid social media of any content considered blasphemous — at least any posted by Pakistanis. —