Seyyed Freitas: A Muslim who didn’t even know he was a Muslim until he arrived in the country

Shaykh Aslam said that he believes the law “does not discriminate or discriminate on the basis of faith” and is ‘a clear expression of freedom’, as it allows people to freely choose who they want to mix with and who they want to shun.

Meanwhile the head of the Pakistani Muslim Congress party Shahbaz Bhatti has accused police of “unfairly arresting a young Muslim girl”.

Bhatti said there had been a’mistake’ but there was nothing wrong with giving police the go ahead. He further called on the government to provide adequate and safe facilities for religious minorities in the country.

Meanwhile the chief minister of Sindh, Khairat Ali Shah, said that his government will not allow any religious group to’siege the freedom of choice’.

‘I have been elected by the people, not the religious leaders… they did not choose me, and if I do not please my party [the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf] they will attack that party’s leaders,’ he said. ‘I am not here to serve Islam, to serve the religion of Islam.’

At a press conference, Shah said that the case of Freitas is ‘an important lesson that one can never be a law officer for the sake of being a law officer. It is not possible to be one if one is doing harm to other things in the name of religion.’

He said that on the one hand, Freitas had had a right to live his life and that one should respect that right. ‘He chose to live a religious life and he should be allowed to live his religion however he wants.’

On the second hand the case shows that police officers may have a very tough job when they are dealing with people of different religions,’ Shah added.

He also said that police should take extra care in handling cases of ‘extremism’ in which a religious group is involved, especially when they happen to be involved in a crime.