Pakistan's outdated blasphemy laws are not fit for the 21st century

British lawmakers introduced legislation aimed to protect minorities

A recent escalation of violence in Pakistan inspired by reports of blasphemy online has highlighted the need for the country’s restrictive laws to be changed.

In early May, a 10-year-old boy was killed in the town of Hub after he was caught up in a brawl related to a young Hindu man who had been accused of putting up blasphemous content online. A month earlier, a 23-year-old university student was lynched to death in Mardan in the north of the county for publishing blasphemous content online. And in January, five Pakistani bloggers who were critics