Asia Bibi: convicted by the mob

When Pakistan’s Supreme Court overturned the death sentence against Asia Bibi, some pundits welcomed it as a hopeful sign, said Melanie Mcdonagh in The Spectator. It was now possible, they said, to imagine Pakistan developing into a modern, progressive society. Really? In 2009, Bibi, a poor farm labourer and a Christian, had the “temerity” to drink from the same water vessel as some of her Muslim neighbours in Punjab. In the confrontation that followed, they insisted she convert to Islam; she refused, prompting a mob to accuse her of insulting Mohammed (she has always denied doing so, and said her accusers were just being vengeful). Convicted of blasphemy in 2010, she was sentenced to die. Last week, the court ruled that the evidence against her was fabricated and that, if anything, it was her faith that was blasphemed against. But her ordeal is not over. Her acquittal sparked mass protests, some violent, that brought several cities to a standstill; there were calls, whipped up by the hard-line Tehreek-e-labbaik Pakistan party (TLP), for the judges in the case to be killed and for Bibi to be hanged. I’d say it’s too soon to talk of a “liberal dawn” in Pakistan.

Asia Bibi may never be safe in Pakistan, said Mohammed Hanif in The New York Times. After her conviction, the governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, promised to lobby on her behalf for a pardon. He was murdered by his bodyguard, who believed that by questioning Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, Taseer had himself blasphemed. When the bodyguard was arrested, lawyers offered to act for him pro bono; and when he was executed, almost 100,000 people turned up to his funeral. A federal minister who spoke up for Bibi was also killed. The state has not so far hanged anyone for blasphemy, but scores of people accused of blasphemy have been murdered.

Imran Khan, the PM, first condemned the violence; then, after three days of protests, he surrendered to the hardliners, and agreed to stop Bibi from leaving Pakistan, said Michael Kugelman on CNN. Some say he has signed her death warrant. But it takes a brave politician to stare down the TLP. This new party feeds on religious conservatism, and fuels it. A growing force, it has supporters in the military and allies in Khan’s PTI. The army and the government have little incentive to antagonise it; but if they don’t confront extremism, the “narratives of hate” these fanatics are spreading on social media and in schools will move further into the mainstream. In trying to keep the peace, Islamabad is risking greater instability.