Daughter of blasphemy case Christian begs: Let her leave Pakistan
THE daughter of a Christian woman who faced the death penalty for blasphemy has pleaded for her mother to be allowed to leave Pakistan.
Asia Bibi was on death row for nine years after being wrongly accused by fellow villagers in Pakistan of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
She was finally cleared by the country’s Supreme Court last year, but riots broke out following the verdict and she was taken into protective custody.
Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday from a secret location in Canada, her youngest daughter Eisham Ashiq, 18, said: ‘I am missing her so much, I think about her all the time, and I speak to her on the phone all the time. I say to her, “Have faith in God, because if God can release you from jail, God can release you from where you are now. He will bring you out.” ’
Eisham has been living with her sister Esha, 21, since December and last hugged her mother nine years ago, although she did see her through prison bars in October.
She said: ‘I could touch her hands and kiss and shake her hands, but could not hug her.
‘ When she comes, I will hug her and kiss her, and that day will be a very special day when my mummy arrives, and I know I will be very happy, and will thank God before anything else.’ A petition against the Supreme Court decision clearing Mrs Bibi was rejected in January and she is a free woman. However, Mrs Bibi, 53, and her husband, Ashiq Masih, 59, have not been allowed to leave the country. Appealing directly to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Eisham said: ‘I would like to tell him to think about us, and release my mother. ‘We love Pakistan very much, and my mummy will never speak against Pakistan as she loves it too.’ The family fear that the risk of Mrs Bibi being attacked will grow the longer she stays in Pakistan. ‘At the moment, she has security, but she could face problems any moment, any time, and it could happen very quickly,’ Eisham said. Eisham was only nine when she witnessed her mother being beaten by a baying mob i n front of village elders. Mrs Bibi had been accused of making derogatory remarks about the Prophet following a row that broke out when other village women refused to drink water from the same cup as her because she was Christian.