The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) has ordered for deletion of life imprisonment term from "Tahafaz-e-Namoos-e-Risalat" law, saying sentence in blasphemy case is only death sentence and awarding any other punishment in this respect is not lawful.

A 5-member larger bench of the FSC, headed by Justice Fida Hussain, was hearing a contempt of court petition filed by Hashmat Habib on Wednesday. While pronouncing the judgment, the bench said the FSC had given a decision in 1990 that life imprisonment, mentioned with death sentence in blasphemy law should be deleted as any blasphemous act is not acceptable and the blasphemer is liable to be punished under death penalty.

Hashmat Habib had filed petition in FSC that court's 1990 decision has not been implemented so far. He prayed the court to issue orders for implementation of this verdict besides initiating contempt of court proceedings against those who have failed to implement the decision.

Source: Pakistan Today, December 4, 2013