While hearing an appeal against his death sentence filed by Mumtaz Qadri, the Supreme Court (SC) has tried to clear misperceptions pertaining to the blasphemy laws. The SC has observed that criticising the blasphemy laws does not amount to committing blasphemy. Mumtaz Qadri has been facing trial for assassinating former Punjab governor Salman Taseer for allegedly committing blasphemy. During the hearing on October 5, the court observed that the entire defence of Qadri will be irrelevant if his lawyer failed to prove that Taseer committed blasphemy. Taseer was shot dead after he had criticised the blasphemy laws after visiting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy. The proceedings in the SC have reopened the debate regarding the abuse and misuse of the blasphemy laws. Blasphemy is a sensitive issue. In a state where a majority of the masses are illiterate, many have a poor understanding of the laws of the land. Mostly, laws are exploited according to the whims of the powerful. The misuse of the blasphemy law is rampant in our society. Oftentimes, mere assumptions are enough to kill a person in the name of religion. The blasphemy laws were made stringent during the regime of General Ziaul Haq in 1986. Around 1,194 people have been charged under these laws since then. In many cases, the laws have been misused to settle personal scores or grab properties. In a number of cases, the accused were killed even before they could defend themselves in the courts. There are numerous examples where the members of the minority community were brutalised through mob violence after the levelling of baseless blasphemy charges. Not only minorities, the victims include Muslims too. Those who support reforming these laws face severe criticism and are even attacked due to the wrong interpretation of Islamic teachings. This was the reason that the accused killed the governor in a crowded marketplace in Islamabad because he opposed his victim’s public criticism of the blasphemy law. It has been almost five years that Mumtaz Qadri’s case has been lingering on. After the award of a death sentence to Mumtaz Qadri by an anti-terrorism court (ATC), a two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) upheld the death sentence under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code on March 9, 2015. However, it struck down his death sentence under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act. The court should never have quashed the latter conviction since it was a fit case to be treated as terrorism. What could be more terrorising than assassinating a high profile public figure that you had sworn to protect? This is an open and shut case as the murderer has already confessed his crime. It is also a fact that Taseer was murdered in the presence of his security detail. Why did his security personnel fail to perform their duty when Qadri opened fire on Taseer from behind? Why were they standing around calmly as if nothing had happened? Why did they fail to protect the governor? These are questions that need to be probed by the concerned authorities and the court needs to fix responsibility for this serious security lapse. During the ongoing hearings of the case, the SC has raised some valid points and questions that should have been pointed out much earlier. On October 6, the counsel for Qadri said, “Punishing a blasphemer is a religious duty which has to be performed by everyone.” This argument has been criticised by Justice Khosa, who has expressed apprehension that if people took the authority to punish alleged or actual blasphemers into their own hands, “a trend will start which will be dangerous for society.” It is commendable that the SC has been making thought provoking observations and raising valid questions regarding this sensitive issue. It is hoped that this case will prove a litmus test for the judiciary to set a precedent for bringing an end to the misuse of blasphemy laws. *