A Muslim shopkeeper in Pakistan faces blasphemy charges for selling shoes engraved with a word that is considered sacred to Hindus, police said Tuesday.

Jahanzeb Khaskheli was arrested in the area of Tando Adam, in the southern province of Sindh, at the weekend. A court charged him on Tuesday, local police chief Agha Shamshad Ali said.

The arrest came after members of the Hindu community protested against the sale of shoes imprinted with the word Om, a holy impression in their religion, Ali said.

Khashkeli told police that he engraved the words in the shoes, but did not know they would cause offence.

Members of the local Hindu community, however, said they had been telling him for years to stop selling the shoes, which they consider an affront.

Pakistan's 1980s blasphemy laws call for the death penalty for insulting the Muslim prophet, the Qu’ran and other religions.

In this case, the shoe seller may face at least 10 years of imprisonment and a fine if convicted, the police official said.

Critics said the controversial laws have, through the decades, been misused by the members of majority communities to subdue minorities.

But they are now being enforced in favour of the minorities as the state seeks to assert power over Muslim extremists.