KARACHI, Jan 9: The Tehrik Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Risalat reiterated its demand on Sunday that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani should declare from the floor of parliament that no attempt would be made to amend the blasphemy law.

Addressing a large rally at the Tibet Centre on the city’s main M.A. Jinnah Road after a march from the Allama Shah Ahmad Noorani roundabout, the leaders of the tehrik announced that another public meeting would be held on Jan 30 in Lahore. They threatened to hold a ‘million march’ on Islamabad if the government did not accept the demand.

Addressing the rally from a pedestrian bridge that served as the dais for the meeting, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam, said the turnout of ‘millions of people’ in Karachi would ensure that no one would dare to amend the law.

He said that changing the law was also the agenda of the West and the US which wanted repeal of Islamic laws.

He said religious people were being dubbed intolerant. “If you cannot tolerate the blasphemy law, how can we tolerate those committing blasphemy.”

“(Punjab Governor) Salman Taseer himself is responsible for his assassination and the government shares the blame,” Maulana Fazl said.

“It is not an issue only of religious parties but of the Ummah,” he said, adding that the people of Karachi had expressed the wishes of the people of the country and the rulers should accept their verdict.

If an increase in prices of petrol could be withdrawn and a decision to levy the reformed general sales tax could be put off, the government should also withdraw a bill to amend the blasphemy law. Otherwise, the tide of people would sweep away the rulers, he warned.

Jamaat-i-Islami’s chief Syed Munawwar Hasan urged PML-N chief Mian Nawaz Sharif and MQM leader Altaf Hussain to declare in clear terms that they would not allow any amendment to the blasphemy law which, according to him, had not been drafted by maulvis nor was it only their issue.

Mr Hasan said a multi-party conference would be held before the Jan 30 public meeting.

The tehrik’s convener Sahibzada Abulkhair Muhammad Zubair said that if steps were taken in contravention of the law and the Constitution, a Mumtaz Qadri (Mr Taseer’s killer) would emerge from every house.

Liaquat Baloch said desecration would not be tolerated in the name of freedom of the press.

Asad Thanvi of the JUI-S said the issue was not only of the religious parties.

Allama Jafar Hussain Subhani of the Tehrik-i-Islami said there was no place for American agents in the country. “Salman Taseer himself is responsible for his assassination,” he said, adding that such incidents would continue to take place if the blasphemy law was not implemented.

Maulana Yusuf Qasuri of the Markazi Jamiat Ahl-i-Hadith, Hafiz Hussain Ahmad of JUI, Hafiz Saeed of Tanzeem-i-Islami, Maulana Allah Wasaya of Majlis Khatm-i-Nabuwat, Qari Hanif Jalundhri of Wafaqul Madaris, Pir Mian Abdul Quadir of Markazi Jamaat Ahl-i-Sunnat, Qari Mohammad Yaqub of Jamaatud Dawa and Halim Adil Shaikh of PML-Q also addressed the rally.

People attending the rally held posters of Mumtaz Qadri and flags and banners of their parties.

Police and Rangers personnel had been deployed along the route of the march and on buildings around the venue of the public meeting.