NEW YORK, Nov 23: The Human Rights Watch has called upon the government of Pakistan to immediately introduce a legislation to repeal the blasphemy law and other discriminatory legislations.

The New York-based rights watchdog said in a statement on Tuesday that the government should also take legal action against militant groups responsible for threats and violence against minorities and other vulnerable groups.

While international and Pakistani human rights groups have long called for the repeal of the blasphemy law, it has come under renewed scrutiny in recent weeks as a consequence of a death sentence imposed on Nov 8 on Aasia Bibi, an illiterate farmhand from Sheikhupura district in Punjab.

“Aasia Bibi has suffered greatly and should never have been put behind bar,” said Ali Dayan Hasan, senior South Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The injustice and fear the blasphemy law spawns will only cease when this heinous law is repealed.”