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The military regime has rejected the US demand to repeal the blasphemy law and also to do away with the constitutional provision that declares Ahmadis (Qadianis) non-Muslim.
An official spokesman told The News on Monday that these were the settled issues, which the government did not want to re-open yet to create another controversy. There was consensus in the country on these sensitive issues, he added.
A resolution was recently introduced in the US House of Representatives urging Pakistan to repeal the blasphemy law and the provisions that declare Ahmadis non-Muslim. The resolution, introduced on February 14, on the eve of Musharraf's visit, was referred to the Committee on International Relations.
The spokesman said: "Pakistan cannot control the thought process of non-Pakistani individuals." The provision declaring Ahmadis as non-Muslims was included in the constitution during Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's tenure following a consensus between all political parties.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan had also prohibited the government from introducing any amendment of fundamental nature in the constitution, he said.
Musharraf, the spokesman said, had
also said time and again that the government would not touch the basic
issues in the constitution. He had however hinted at changing the procedure
for the registration of cases under the blasphemy law to ensure that the
law was not misused but the government had to withdraw even from there
following a strong reaction from religious groups and parties in the country.
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