Activist Javed Anand is the convenor of IMSD that introduces itself as “progressive and liberal voices of the Indian Muslim community”.“The AIMPLB cannot be unaware of the notorious blasphemy law in neighbouring Pakistan which is frequently misused to hound individuals from religious minorities and even fellow Muslims with sectarian and personal motives,” underscored IMSD in its statement.It pointed out that Bangladesh, which started off as a secular state at its birth in 1971 but adopted Islam as a state religion in 1988, does not have a law against blasphemy “but often misuses the same secular penal code of the British period – section 295(A) – to silence all critical comments on Islam in the name of blasphemy”. IMSD condemned the constant attempts by certain hate factories of Hindutva which were working overtime to demonise Islam and Muslims. However, IMSD maintained that it fully supported the principle that in a secular state there can be no place for a law criminalising blasphemy.
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