US lawmaker seeks changes in Pak blasphemy law

WASHINGTON: In the wake of killing of a Hindu teenager in Pakistan and the arrest of a man from the minority community for allegedly desecrating a holy book, a top US lawmaker has called for immediate changes in the country's blasphemy laws.

"Two Sindhi Hindu teenagers shot in Sindh. Another arrested for Blasphemy. Pakistan's Blasphemy law needs to be changed. Now," Congressman Brad Sherman yesterday said in a tweet.

A Hindu youth was shot dead on Wednesday as communal tension gripped a district in Pakistan's Sindh province following alleged desecration of a holy book by a man from the minority community who was arrested for blasphemy.

Tension ran high in Mehran Samejo village in Ghotki district after a Hindu man, Amar Lal, who was said to be mentally unstable, allegedly desecrated a holy book a day earlier.