Asia Bibi’s husband says he is desperate for help
▶ Convicted Pakistani woman’s family has not been contacted by the government
The Pakistan government has failed to provide support to the family of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy, her husband told The National.
Ms Bibi, 47, was convicted in 2010 for allegedly making derogatory remarks about Islam. Last week she was acquitted of all charges by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, sparking protests by members of the hardline Tehreek-e-Labbaik party who paralysed the country for three days, blocking roads and disrupting traffic in major cities.
The protesters, however, ended their action on Friday night after Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government reached a controversial deal to put Ms Bibi on the no-fly list and said it would not object to an appeal against the verdict, which was filed earlier in the Supreme Court. TLP spokesman Ejaz Ashrafi told The National there would be nationwide protests if the government allowed Ms Bibi to leave the country.
“No government institution has contacted us for our safety nor shown any sympathy to us,” Ms Bibi’s husband, Ashiq Masih, said on Monday.
Blasphemy is a hugely inflammatory charge in Muslim-majority Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam and its Prophet Mohammed can lead to death at the hands of vigilantes.
The father of four on Sunday called on President Donald Trump to help the family to leave Pakistan.
The family has been under increased pressure after the departure on Monday of their lawyer, Saif ul-Malook.
Mr Malook, who fled to the Netherlands, said he contacted a United Nations official in Islamabad when violence erupted after the acquittal of Ms Bibi. “And then they [the UN] and the European nation ambassadors in Islamabad, they kept me for three days and then put me on a plane against my wishes,” the lawyer told a press conference in The Hague.
The lawyer said a UN official in Pakistan told him “we are taking care of her” but that “when I said which country, they said ‘we can’t say’”.
Qamar Rafiq, a member of Ms Bibi’s family, told The National they had been kept in the dark regarding the state of their jailed relative.
Despite Mr Khan’s agreement with Islamist hardliners and the latter’s review petition, the court’s judgment has not been suspended, Osama Malik, a legal expert at Islamabad High Court, told The National.
Ms Bibi’s case has divided Pakistan, leading to the murder of two politicians who defended her. One of them, Punjab governor Salman Taseer, was killed by his bodyguard in Islamabad in 2011.
The saga shows the challenges faced by Pakistan’s Christian minority – which comprises just 2.6 per cent of the Muslim-majority country of 208 million people – amid growing intolerance and radical Muslim groups.
“The state needs to take a bold step in the Asia Bibi case to ensure the rights declared in the constitution of Pakistan and help minorities of the country to feel secure,” said Kapil Dev, a minorities rights activist.