Taseer, in an interview with Arab News said, "I do not have the authority to remit the death sentence ... she has filed a mercy petition addressed to the president and I will send her petition to the president with favorable recommendation."

Taseer, a liberal moderate, offered no comments on the blasphemy laws but said, "I met Aasia Bibi today and persuaded her to file a mercy petition to save her life."

Under the constitution a convicted person can address a mercy petition to the president through the governor of the respective province.

Taseer, a post-graduate from the London School of Economics, said the blasphemy law can only be repealed by an act of Parliament, adding, "It's the Parliament which can remove such laws which are not in accordance with the Qur'an and the Sunnah."

Earlier on Friday, Zardari had asked the Ministry of Religious Affairs to review the case of the Christian woman convicted under blasphemy law.

Zardari, however, is facing opposition from one of the coalition partners with the leader of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam Maulana Fazalur Rehman opposed to the granting of presidential pardon to Aasia Bibi. Other Islamic parties across Pakistan too have opposed the move arguing that many people in the past had been convicted under the blasphemy law.

Aasia Bibi, a resident of Nankana Sahib in Punjab was sentenced to death under sections 295 B and C of the Pakistan Penal Code, following an incident that led to an altercation between her and her co-workers over the issue of fetching water from fields. Media reports have said that initially the police took her into protective custody to shield her from an angry mob and later registered a case of blasphemy against her.

Pope Benedict too has made an appeal to the Pakistan government to free Aasia Bibi, a mother of five, and resident of Chak 3 of the Ittanwali district. In June 2009, she was sentenced on charges of blasphemy and has been in prison for over a year.

According to reports, and an investigation by the National Commission on the Status of Women, Aasia Bibi's case is rooted in personal vendetta with a landlord allegedly using the issue to settle scores with the victim.

President of the Jinnah Institute Sherry Rehman said, "It is clear that Aasia Bibi is yet another victim of the shocking prejudice that pervades our institutions."

"If all institutions of the state, including the judiciary, cannot protect its minorities from abuse, they must no longer be complicit in their victimization. The blasphemy law has been abused for over 20 years and must be removed now."