Control the mob
U.S. should demand Pakistan ensure Bibi’s safety
It’s noteworthy that while the majority-Christian world has moved beyond blasphemy as an offense deemed worthy of the criminal justice system, it is one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed in some Muslim-majority countries.
Recently, Ireland officially repealed its blasphemy law as a quaint vestige of an earlier, benighted era. No one was prosecuted under that law in decades.
Yet we find that in Pakistan, one’s life is in danger from a lynch mob for blasphemy even if one has been acquitted.
The United States must respect other countries’ national and local traditions to some extent. Pakistan is a nuclear-armed state and a powerful American ally in the fight against the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan.
All the same, it is to be hoped that President Donald Trump is adding his voice to those already raised in Europe demanding that no harm comes to Asia Bibi and her family, who are Roman Catholic.
Where are the voices of moderate Muslims shaming their co-religionists in Pakistan? Where is the outrage within Islam?
The 54-year-old mother of five was kept on death row in Pakistan for nine years after being convicted of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
The Pakistan Supreme Court decided she was falsely accused and dropped the charges. However, the government is afraid to let her leave the country because of the fanatical rage that is already gripping much of Pakistan.
Pakistani extremists threaten to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan because he is trying to protect Ms. Bibi from a lynch mob.
Ms. Bibi has been offered asylum by the European Parliament, which championed her case after she was convicted in 2010 under Pakistan’s harsh blasphemy law.
The law has been sharply criticized around the world, yet the Muslims in Pakistan cling to it. The United States is not immune to extremist fear-mongering and has seen lynch mobs in the past. But the United States must now be an outspoken opponent of religious violence and prejudice in the world, must call for justice and safety for Ms. Bibi, and should be alert to outbreaks domestically.