Musharraf Defends Nation's Blasphemy Law

Former president Pervez Musharraf said on Sunday that Pakistan's blasphemy laws could not be changed, but that the man who killed the governor of Punjab province over his opposition to them must be punished.

Musharraf, who is planning to return to Pakistan to fight elections due by 2013, also said he was open to any coalition partners who wanted to join him, and described the MQM as "a good party" with whom he had no differences of opinion.

He said blasphemy was an extremely sensitive issue for the people of Pakistan. "Therefore doing away with the blasphemy law is not at all possible and must not be done," he told Reuters.