The hearing of appeal of Mumtaz Qadri, who killed Punjab governor Salman Taseer took an interesting turn on Friday hearing.
Islamabad High Court (IHC) during the hearing appeal, remarked that even a judge cannot touch an accused after awarding him punishment, how the defence counsel insisted that a person can kill another person under unusual circumstances.
The bench, comprising Justice Noorul Haq N. Qureshi and Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui, questioned from the defence counsel, whether the case should be decided on the basis of emotions or the letter of the law.
Defence counsel, Mian Nazir Akhar insisted that “anyone can be killed under unusual circumstances.” Quoting examples from Islamic history, he mentioned incidents in which blasphemers were killed for making derogatory remarks against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and their act was appreciated by the then rulers.
However, the judge observed that at that time the nature of things was different and the said team had judicial powers.
Justice Siddiqui remarked “There is a blasphemy law in the country and in the presence of that law no one is allowed to take the law into his hands,”
