Why Koran is such a hot button

Now, the group is leveling similar charges following the Guantánamo controversy and a recent Washington Times cartoon that depicted Pakistan as a dog and the US as its master. Previous news articles have included accounts of US interrogators desecrating the Koran at Guantánamo.

"By insulting the Koran, they have challenged our beliefs," said Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a top official of the religious alliance, at a rally in Islamabad. "It has happened due to the liberal and progressive policies of Western-influenced Muslim rulers."

Sunday, a group of Afghan clerics vowed to call for a holy war against the US in three days unless it handed over the military interrogators reported to have desecrated the Koran. The same day, MMA president Qazi Hussain Ahmed announced plans for a global protest on May 27 involving 25 leading Islamic organizations including Hamas, Hizbullah, PAS of Malaysia, and the Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt.

As part of its "enlightened moderation" policy, Pakistan has tried to amend or abolish a number of religious ordinances, including the blasphemy laws. But Islamabad has backed down after opposition from religious parties.

More than 4,000 blasphemy cases have been registered since the laws were enacted in 1986, according to human rights activists. While no one has ever been officially executed for blasphemy, dozens have been killed by vigilantes.

"That should be prosecuted vehemently. Only the government can take a person's life," says Ghafoor Ahmed, the deputy chief of Jamaat-i Islami, a major component of the MMA. Still, the blasphemy laws are necessary, he says. "No one who believes in God or in the prophets of God can allow them to be insulted."

Campaigners against blasphemy laws in Pakistan say there are inadequate protections for the accused, who under current law must be arrested before any investigation begins. Often lower court judges are intimidated into passing a guilty verdict. If challenged, it takes years for the upper courts to review to verdict. In the meantime, blasphemy prisoners are vulnerable to violence. Those who are eventually acquitted sometimes must flee the country.

Blasphemy cases rarely involve malice against Islam. Rather, the charges are often pretexts rising out of petty issues ranging from cattle theft to land disputes. They are also used as a weapon against religious minorities, says Shabaz Bhatti, head of the All Pakistan Minority Alliance.

Last November, a Christian girl in the small town of Wah Cantt was accused of blasphemy after someone spotted pages of the Koran in a trash bin outside the house where she was cleaning.

Before the police could investigate, extremists attacked the house and threatened to kill her. Muslim and Christian elders intervened and handed the girl to the police in a bid to save her life, locals say. She was released, but the death threats continued, forcing her and her family to leave.

"We still feel that we are living under danger, under a shadow of a fake accusation," says a relative of the girl. "We have lived with our Muslim brothers for decades. They respect our beliefs and we respect their beliefs, except there are some extremists who want to ignite feelings on the basis of baseless allegations."

• Dan Murphy in Cairo contributed to this report.

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