On air: Is Pakistan's modernisation a myth?
| 14:13 UK time, Friday, 31 December 2010
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This topic was discussed on World Have Your Say on December 31 2010. Listen to the programme here.
Several of Pakistan's biggest cities have been heavily disrupted by strikes that oppose proposed changes to the country's blasphemy laws. We discussed the laws recently on WHYS because of the case of a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, who's been sentenced to death for blasphemy.
The changes, which are not backed by the government, want to get rid of the death sentence and introduce other measures aimed at reducing miscarriages of justice. That this is being opposed is seen as evidence by some that Pakistanis have no appetite for 'modernisation'.
Others argue that the strikers do not represent the majority, and another group see no contradiction between the existing law and a modern state.
Either way the strikes have made headlines around the world, and conclusions are being drawn about what they say about Pakistan. We'll hear those reactions and put them to those of you in Pakistan.
