Photo: Protesters mobilizing for the release of Asia Bib in Lahore, Pakistan on November 21, 2010 (Mohsin Raza/Reuters)

Bibi’s acquittal sparked protests by religious fundamentalists across the country, and despite being acquited by the highest court in the country, Bibi was not allowed to leave Pakistan. The review petition against Bibi was also dismissed by the Supreme Court, but she was forced to remain in Pakistan until she quietly left for Canada on Wednesday. Such is the sensitivity of the matter that the government is tight-lipped about Bibi’s departure and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to confirm she was in Canada for security reasons.
 

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The blasphemy-related offence carries mandatory death penalty under Pakistani law.

A review petition was filed on November 1, 2018, by Qari Muhammad Salam, a cleric who had fabricated the alleged blasphemy case against Bibi in 2009, requesting the top court to reconsider its decision.

Read full report here: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/pakistan/pakistans-aasia-bibi-is-free-at-last/articleshow/67742087.cms

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Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of Canada has offered asylum to Asia Bibi. She was released from the Pakistan Jail last month but was living in incarceration fearing the lynch mob who call themselves protectors of Islam. Both in India and Pakistan, the culture of religious justice is growing. Pakistan and Bangladesh have this and the Hindutva lunatics are learning from them. So, while Pakistanis and Bangladeshis will want their nation to be Islamic only, their cousins in the Sangh Parivar want India to be a Hindu Rashtra. Frankly speaking, this is not a Hindu vs Gandhi vs Jinnah war, clandestinely, it is a caste war. The caste discrimination is a part of the South Asian culture, whether you are a Hindu, Muslim or Christians.
 
Asia Bibi faced untouchability and when she challenged it, she was charged with blasphemy. The thugs in the streets were baying for her blood. Kudos to Pakistan Supreme Court which rejected the review petition in this regard, paving the way for her to leave Pakistan. After all this, Asia Bibi cannot live in Pakistan as the Islamic goons will kill her. So the only option for her was to leave. Of course, in Canada too, she will have to live in anonymity for several years as Europe and America are also the new battlegrounds for these religious thugs who do not like the liberal societies but go there to earn money.
 
Our good wishes to Asia Bibi and hope she will bring up her children well without facing any discrimination. Despite all theories of conspiracy, the western world is still a far superior choice for all those who see their fundamental rights challenged based on their caste, race, gender or ideologies such as being atheists, humanists or anything else, which our states feel threatened by.
 
Many of our friends yesterday remembered Jogendra Nath Mandal, the first Law Minister of Pakistan and chairman of the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan. Mandal belongs to Namoshudra community in Bengal which was an untouchable community. He organised the Dalits in Bengal and followed the path shown by Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar. He ensured that Baba Saheb Ambedkar is sent to the Constituent Assembly from Bengal as he lost from Bombay Presidency. Unfortunately, the seat that Baba Saheb won from Kulna shifted to Pakistan after partition and Baba Saheb had to re-contest for the Constituent Assembly from Bombay to get into it.
 
Mandal was hopeful that in the new Pakistan, Dalits would get fair share as he felt that Muslims will be much more sympathetic to their cause but within three years of independence on October 8th, 1950 Mandal resigned from Liaquat Ali Khan’s cabinet against the maltreatment, discrimination and violence against the Scheduled Castes in general and among Hindus and Muslims.
 
The fact of the matter is, the Punjabi and Sindhi Muslims never considered Bengalis, both the Muslims as well as Scheduled Castes, as their equivalent and Mandal’s resignation never made Pakistani elite learn from their mistakes. Excluding communities resulted in mass unrest in East Bengal ultimately resulting in the bifurcation of Pakistan. Mandal was deeply disappointed with the attitude of Pakistani ruling elite towards the Dalits as well as the Muslims and Hindus in East Bengal who faced regular discrimination and violence.
 
Unfortunately, we are not ready to learn from these lessons. Exclusion of any community leads to deep distress and mass violence. Political middlemen gain from such acts. Mandal died as an unsung hero and though he returned to India, he could not re-establish himself as a leader of the Dalits. Caste discrimination is rampant in South Asia even after so many years and yet we never want to do away with it. Blasphemy laws, cow protection laws, are nothing but to protect the caste hierarchies among the Muslims and Hindus. Religion is basically a tool for the powerful castes in South Asia to control people and perpetuate discrimination in the name of religion.
 
Canada has shown us the mirror but we will still not learn any lesson because then the religion traders will have to shut shops.
 

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That opportunity was provided by the case of Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman wrongly accused of blasphemy. After spending nearly a decade on a false charge, the woman was set free by the Pakistan Supreme Court which in itself was an unprecedented move of courage and sagacity. The judges, unmoved by the threats of narcissistic mullahs hell bent on creating trouble, calmly asserted that the bedrock of any modern state is that the rule of law is equally applicable to all citizens, including religious minorities. Pakistan has come to such a pass that for even this simple pronouncement, the judges had to take extraordinary caution and in fact gave interviews afterwards justifying their decision. They argued clearly that there was no evidence against the accused and under the circumstances, they cannot do anything but set her free. Her decade long incarceration was thus illegal, but then compensation for loss of productive years is too much to ask in many parts of the world. The judges were bold and they must be congratulated for reading the law to the mullahs: Pakistan should be governed by modern law and that law should be equally applicable to everyone irrespective of their religion. A modern nation state cannot be governed by the archaic demands of the mullahs.

While the pronouncement proved beyond doubt that the law of blasphemy is inherently designed to punish religious minorities, what escaped attention was how little Islam has impacted on the caste system despite its supposed egalitarianism. Most Christians in Pakistan are from the ex-untouchable castes, a legacy of the undivided subcontinent. Aasia Bibi suffered not just because she was a Christian but also because she was from an ex-untouchable caste. That Muslims practice untouchability in a land where Islam rules the roost should shame all Muslims. But then, this is hardly an issue for a country obsessed with Islam and its supposed enemy the Hindus.  

Partial congratulations are also in order for the new Prime Minister of Pakistan: the way he addressed the nation soon after the verdict while the mullahs were threatening judges and rampaging the streets of Pakistan calls for a different kind of bravery, something which Pakistan has not seen in a long time. But then, I say it is partial because soon he entered into an agreement with the same set of mullahs who were holding Pakistan to ransom. The terms of that agreement will only be counter-productive to establishing a secular Pakistan but then in the short term, it did give relief to the state. However, the cost of this short term relief appears to be too high. First it has brought an equivalence between the mad mullahs who refuse to stand with the highest court of the land and the government which should have ideally upheld that legal pronouncement without coming to any compromise. The agreement between the Pakistani government and the Tahreek Labaik tells us categorically that with the slogan of Islam in danger, the cunning mullahs can get away with almost anything. Secondly, by apparently agreeing that the government will not block a review of Bibi’s case, the government has ceded its fundamental authority to the mullahs: that of being the sole custodian to decide what should be the best interest of the state. In becoming amenable to outside influence and that too of a fundamentalist kind, the present Pakistani government has set a very dangerous precedent.

But then what can be expected from a government whose prime minister actually cut a deal with the same fundamentalist not very long time ago. While in opposition, the same Imran Khan was in alliance with the mullahs who were then baying for the blood of Nawaz Sharif. There are ministers who have paid obeisance at the grave of the killer of Salman Taseer. Also, while in opposition, Imran Khan’s position on the question of blasphemy has been no different from those of the fundamentalists. It is rather rich of Imran Khan that while in power, he now sings a different tune and expects the same mullahs to obey the rule of law. Fundamentalists have never shown any deference to existing rule of law, rather their idea is to change the law according to their radical interpretation of Islam. Appeasing them will not serve any purpose. What is needed is that they be dealt with an iron hand. But this is better said than done. After all what can be expected from a government which unceremoniously removed a brilliant economist from a government position just because he happened be an Ahmadi and somebody from the mullah community made it into an issue.

This is not just an issue for the current establishment of Pakistan. The roots of intolerance towards other religious traditions go very deep in its history and we must start at the time when this ‘nation of the pure’ was supposedly constructed as the new Medina. It was Jinnah and Muslim League’s articulation that they could no longer live with the Hindus which started a seemingly new narrative for the Muslims of the subcontinent. Jinnah’s obstinacy flew in the face of history: India being one of the few places where religious pluralism was a fact of everyday life rather than just a mere academic construct. In making Islam as an exclusivist religion, Jinnah wrenched the Muslims of this country of centuries pluralism and coexistence. Not content with this religious division of hearts and minds, the new state of Pakistan sought to proclaim the Ahmadis as the new enemy now that they could no longer blame the Hindus for everything. It is another matter that the leading stalwarts of the Ahmadi movement were themselves big leaders of the Muslim League and Punjab would not have been delivered to the League without the active support of this community. It is almost as if that Islam needs a perpetual enemy to survive. And that perhaps is the original question which the Pakistanis need to confront. In their attempt to refashion themselves as a more tolerant and diverse country, they must deal and interrogate with their past. Only then perhaps a genuine beginning of a new Pakistan can be made.

Arshad Alam is a NewAgeIslam.com columnist

Courtesy: New Age Islam
 

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Image Courtesy: AFP

Pakistan is in turmoil at the moment. In a historic judgment, Pakistan Supreme Court acquitted Asia Bibi, a Dalit Christian woman who was sentenced to death by the lower courts on the charges of blasphemy. The court judgment has created an unprecedented crisis in Pakistan as the Mullahs and other Islamic fanatics have taken to the street and are asking the government to pressurize the court to rescind the judgment. Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan initially showed some spine but has now surrendered to the fanatic elements who are threatening Asia Bibi and her family for the alleged blasphemous act committed nearly a decade ago.
 
Pakistan’s long-serving Dictator, General Zia ul Haq damaged the institutions there and brought new changes in the constitution. The old Indian Penal code used to protect an attempt to ‘hurt’ religious sentiments, but now Zia has added specific provisions under Section 298A  which state, “Whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representations, or by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of any wife [Ummul Mumineen], or members of the family [Ahle-bait], of the Holy Prophet [Peace be upon him] or any of the righteous Caliphs [Khulafa-e-Raashideen] or companions [Sahaaba] of the Holy Prophet [Peace be upon him] shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine or with both.”
 
This became the biggest instrument in the hands of Muslim fanatics which could be used against ‘Christians’ and Ahmedis. It was easier because people have to just complain against a non-Muslim saying that he heard him ‘abusing’ or defiling or writing, speaking things against the Prophet and soon the entire shouting brigade would band together, baying for the blood of the accused. According to a research report in Pakistan’s prestigious newspaper Dawn, over 75 persons, which include 39 Muslims, 23 Christians, 9 Ahmedis and 2 Hindus, have been killed extra-judicially on the charges of blasphemy.
 
Ahmedis are not even considered Muslims and are the most tortured communities in Pakistan. The Christian community, which is being targeted extensively are originally Churas and Bhangis who continue to live in fear and face discrimination at all levels. Internationally, when blasphemy cases from Pakistan come under the spotlight, the international media mostly talks about Christians but the fact is, this is a big lie. The people in Pakistan face blasphemy charges not because they are Christians but because they are Bhangis and Churas.
 
It is also shocking that Pakistan’s human rights organisations, as well as Dalit organisations, have rarely spoken about the issue. The whole case of untouchability and caste discrimination is often missed in the entire debate of blasphemy. We must not forget that Pakistan’s elite leadership wanted the Bhangis and Churas to remain in Pakistan otherwise who else would clean their sewage lines and toilets. Secondly, most of them had been converting to Christianity from Lahore to Delhi and one factor was that the high caste Muslims never wanted to sit beside them or have any relations with them. Therefore, most of the Churas or Bhangis actually embraced Christianity, though their occupations remained the same. It has to be understood that Christians in Pakistan are not the white or high caste Christians but hail from the Bhangi and Chura communities who continue to face caste-based discrimination. Pakistan’s Human Rights Commission has been speaking about the violence and oppression of minorities, particularly the Christians, but I don’t know why their caste factor is not discussed.
 
One of Pakistan’s leading organization, Sir Ganga Ram Heritage Foundation has been inviting lectures on Dr. Ambedkar every year and invite many Indian scholars and activists. If we go by their website, we only find stories about Dalits in India. There is not a single mention of Dalits in Pakistan or what needs to be done. In the success stories, one PPP Member of National Assembly is portrayed. Pakistan’s Dalit movement, in Sind Province and under the leadership of Dalit Sujag Tehreek, is doing wonderful work but the issues of Chura and Bhangis are left here too. Maybe they are engaged in their own struggles and the issues of the sweeper community are mostly relegated to Punjab. I have not come across a single case where Sir Ganga Ram Heritage Foundation is fighting for the rights of the Dalits in Pakistan. Sadly, not a single statement about the humiliation of Churas and Bhangis is being said by them. Just being a propaganda material of the state would not work. It can give them some brownie points but at the end, Pakistan must be held accountable on the Dalit question and international human rights group must start focusing on the Dalit and tribal issues outside India also.
 
The fire-spitting fanatics in the streets of Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi want to punish Asia Bibi, mother of five children. Her husband Ashiq Maseeh has already appealed to the international community to help them. Their lawyer, who defended them in the Supreme Court has already left Pakistan fearing attacks and has taken shelter in the Netherlands. Imran Khan’s government did not do a great favour to anyone by saying that it won’t allow Asia Bibi to go abroad. This is disgraceful, given the nature of threats. She was secure in the jail but what about her safety now? There is a risk to her life and that of her family.
 
The government is pressurizing the courts like the political parties. The bloodthirsty hate mongers are just waiting to hand her to death without shame. We haven’t heard the issue clearly and the local and international media only focus on the blasphemous angle of the story and not about caste apartheid and justice for Asia Bibi.
 
I am quoting the story from an Australian news-site news.com:
 
“Aasiya Noreen “Asia” Bibi is a mother-of-five from Ittan Wali, a small rural village in central Pakistan.
 
In her biography, Blasphemy: A Memoir, Bibi describes the moment that would radically alter her life forever.
 
On June 14, 2009, she set out to the fields near her house to take part in a berry-picking harvest, for which she would be paid 250 Pakistani rupees for a day’s work — the equivalent of just under $A3.
 
She described a climate of open hostility towards her from the women she worked with because she was part of the country’s Christian minority, which makes up less than 2 per cent of Pakistan.
 
Around midday, dehydrated and sweltering in the sun, Bibi walked to the nearby well to have a drink of water.
 
But after she refilled the bucket a second time, a woman screamed: “Don’t drink that water, it’s haram!”
 
According to Bibi’s account, the woman who screamed then turned to the dozen other women working in the fields and said: “Listen, all of you, this Christian has dirtied the water in the well by drinking from our cup and dipping it back several times. Now the water is unclean and we can’t drink it! Because of her!”
 
The argument intensified, with the women calling on Bibi to convert and “redeem herself”.
 
It was one sentence she fired back with that would seal her fate: “What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind?”
 
After this, Bibi said the women started screaming, spitting at her and physically assaulting her. She ran home in a fright.
 
Less than a week later, she went fruit-picking in another field when she was confronted by a rioting crowd, led by the woman who had initially shouted at her.
 
The crowd surrounded her, beat her and took her to the village, screaming: “Death! Death to the Christian!”
 
The village imam said: “I’ve been told you’ve insulted our Prophet. You know what happens to anyone who attacks the holy Prophet Mohammed. You can redeem yourself only by conversion or death.”
 
She protested: “I haven’t done anything. Please, I beg you, I’ve done nothing wrong.”
 
(https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/christian-woman-in-pakistan-facing-death-penalty-over-a-cup-of-water/news-story/63690073f2fd5debde9c151fdb588053)
 
It is clear that Asia Bibi was a victim of the untouchability when the women who saw her drinking water told others that the water has become ‘haram’. Any self-respecting person would respond the way Asia Bibi did but the Islamic zealots actually converted it into a blasphemous act. There is so much talk that Islam treats everyone equally and there is no untouchability and now you want to oppress and suppress people’s voices because you fear getting exposed. In India, Asia Bibi would have got protection under the SC-ST Act even when we know that the implementation is the worst part.
 
I am not writing this article to deride Muslims or Pakistan as I believe in everyone’s fundamental right. As a nation, Pakistan has every right to exist as any other country in the world but I wonder whether this Pakistan is the one from Mohammad Ali Jinnah’s dream. One similarity that I found in Pakistan and Jinnah with Nehru was his secularism and democratic approach, but neither Nehru or Jinnah understand caste discrimination and untouchability nor did they make any assertive effort to eradicate it. They wanted to be secular but not radical change makers.
 
Pakistan’s Constituent Assembly chief was Joginder Nath Mondal who became the first law and labour minister there, very much like Baba Saheb Ambedkar here. Baba Saheb Ambedkar got fed up with the Nehru government which did not give him the Ministry he would have loved like Planning and Finance. Jogindernath Mondal became fed up with Pakistani leadership within the two years of the state coming into existence as East Pakistan, which was the Bengali dominated area was being severely discriminated and the condition of minorities was horrible. The resignation letters of Baba Saheb Ambedkar from Nehru cabinet and Jogindernath Mondal from Pakistani cabinet needs to be explained to the people to understand the conditions of Dalits and minorities in our respective countries.
 
Long back, many of the leaders felt that Islam was a liberator for the marginalized particularly Dalits and many of them converted into the faith. MN Roy’s book ‘Historical Role of Islam’ is an important document on the role played by Islam in liberating the Dalits and the marginalized in India but today, when we see the conditions of Dalit Muslims, we realize that Muslim elites have failed Islam and have continued with the traditions of their Brahmanical ancestors in following the caste system and untouchability. It is surprising that blasphemy in Pakistan has not been linked to the issues of Churas and Bhangis yet. Our Sanghi nationalists are doing the same. You raise a question about the Dalits and they talk about Ram Mandir and cow protection. The entire cow protection movement in India is actually our blasphemy movement and victims of Indian blasphemy are Muslims and Dalits.
 
Nearly a year and a half ago, a Pakistani journalist who happened to be a Dalit complained that in his newsroom, he faced untouchability. I contacted him through friends but after the first email, he refused to answer my questions. A number of other Dalit activists are unable to speak up openly as they feel threatened and are being spied on by the state agencies. While many of Pakistan’s top Generals use the Dalit card against India, the fact is their own track record is horrible and perhaps much worse than India. Hindus have legitimized caste system but India’s Dalit movement is an example to be emulated. There is no other movement in the subcontinent which can be compared to it in terms of the liberation of people.
 
It is not that Indian Muslim do not have castes. Halalkhors, Hellas, Kalandars, Nats and many other communities exist in the system but the Indian state, as well as the upper caste Muslim leadership, rarely speak about them. In Kashmir, there is much talk of Islamic Jihad and other things but they never raise the issues of Wattals, who are the manual scavengers in Kashmir, belonging to Islam. They are treated as untouchables and most of them are landless, homeless and destitute. When the entire country wants to be open defecation free, Kashmir and some of its districts have open toilets and Wattals have to clean them and are humiliated regularly.
 
The caste system was divinely sanctioned by the Brahmanical system but why are the Muslims and Christians following it? It is in this context, we feel that the upper caste leadership of Muslims in both India and Pakistan kept the issue under the wrap and enjoyed the farzi fight. No Jihadi organization in Pakistan has come out in support of Pakistan’s Dalits. When the Indian Muslims are now making alliances with Dalits, why is that the Pakistan government and its leadership continue to follow the caste system and untouchability?
 
Pakistan’s religious leaders would have would have gained a lot if they had supported the Supreme Court judgment but the way these fanatics bloodsuckers are crying against Asia Bibi proves that they have contempt and hatred towards Dalits. Who will clean their toilets and sewage systems if the Dalits deny it? International media and Pakistan media must understand that it is not merely the issue of the Christian minority getting targeted.
 
The main targets are Dalits because they too want to progress and leave their occupation imposed upon them. The fundamentalists want them to continue with this work and therefore most of them are trapped under the allegations of blasphemy. Pakistan leadership must be made accountable for the violence against Dalits and the media must change the narrative now.
 
People are being persecuted not because they are Christian but because they are Dalits as leaving their occupations and standing with their heads held high is a direct threat to casteist Mullahs and fanatics who want to suppress their voices in the name of Islam.
 
We hope that the Pakistan Supreme Court as well as the government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan will not succumb to the pressure from the fanatics on this issue and will allow justice to prevail. Any Pakistani Dalit facing untouchability and caste discrimination is the most blasphemous act any country can face. Dalits must get a respectable life and an opportunity to participate in the socio-political-cultural life of their country. Any country practising the caste system and untouchability must come under the international radar and there should be a fight against racism. It is time caste discrimination become part of international agenda. No religious law should be allowed to justify violence against the Dalits. The international community must recognize that violence against certain communities in Pakistan is not because they are minorities but because they happen to be Dalits. Once they understand the issue of caste discrimination, all countries will have to make laws to protect Dalits and eradicate untouchability and caste discrimination. That way, action must be taken against those racists who humiliated Asia Bibi when she drank water from the pot. Will the Pakistani government have the courage to do so? No, it won’t but let it protect Asia Bibi or allow her to leave Pakistan to live in any other country which can guarantee her safety and security.
 

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October 31 will be remembered as a red-letter day when it comes to the judgements delivered by Pakistan Supreme Court and Delhi High court.
 
It may be mentioned here that Pakistan Supreme Court has acquitted a 47-year-old Christian woman from the punishment given to her under the blasphemy law of Pakistan. She was in prison for almost a decade. Pronouncing the judgement, the Pakistan Supreme Court said that Islam is the most tolerant religion.
 
On 31 October itself, Delhi High Court sentenced 16 UP Policemen to life imprisonment holding them guilty for the massacre of 38 Muslims who were shot dead on May 22, 1987, and their bodies were thrown in a canal. The most interesting aspect of this case was that V. N. Rai, then SP of the district himself filed an FIR against the guilty Policemen. Rai is also a famous writer who later became the DG of UP Police.    
 
Justice Fazanuddin, former Supreme Court Judge, Dr. Ram Puniyani, Retired professor, IIT Mumbai, L S Herdenia, Convener, All India Secular Forum, Rajendra Kothari, Chandrakant Naidu, Journalist and Dr. Ranjeet, Bangalore based human rights activist and well-known writer have hailed the judgments pronounced by Pakistan’s Supreme Court and Delhi High Court.
 
In a statement issued here they have stated that October 31, 2018, will be remembered as a red letter day in the history of Indo-Pak judiciary.

In Hindi-

दिनांक 31 अक्टूबर 2018 भारत एवं पाकिस्तान की न्यायपालिका के इतिहास में  स्वर्णाक्षरों से लिखा जाएगा। 31 अक्टूबर को दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय एवं पाकिस्तान के सर्वोच्च न्यायालय ने जो फैसले दिए हैं, उनकी जितनी प्रशंसा की जाए उतनी कम है।

भोपाल में जारी एक वक्तव्य में उच्चतम न्यायालय के पूर्व न्यायाधीश न्यायमूर्ति फैजानुद्दीन, राष्ट्रीय सेक्युलर मंच के संयोजक एलएस हरदेनिया, प्रोफेसर डॉ. राम पुनियानी,राजेन्द्र कोठारी, पत्रकार चन्द्रकांत नायडू एवं बंगलौर के मानवाधिकार कार्यकर्ता व साहित्यकार डॉ. रंजीत ने आशा प्रकट की है कि इन दोनों निर्णयों का मुस्तैदी से पालन किया जाएगा।

यहां उल्लेखनीय है कि पाकिस्तान के उच्चतम न्यायालय ने एक ऐसी ईसाई महिला को दोषमुक्त घोषित किया है जो पिछले अनेक वर्षों से जेल में थी और ईशनिंदा कानून के अंतर्गत सजा भुगत रही थी। इसी तरह दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय ने उन 16 पुलिकर्मियों को दोषी करार देकर आजीवन कारावास की सजा सुनाई है जिन्होंने 40 से अधिक निर्दोष मुस्लिम युवकों की निर्मम हत्या की थी और उनकी लाशों को एक नहर में फेंक दिया था। इस जघन्य अपराध में शामिल पीएसी के पुलिसकर्मियों को सजा दिलाने में 31 वर्ष लगे।

इस संबंध में सबसे दिलचस्प बात यह है कि दोषी पुलिसकर्मियों के विरूद्ध तत्कालीन पुलिस अधीक्षक विभूति नारायण राय ने ही एफआईआर दर्ज करवाई थी। इसी एफआईआर के अंतर्गत की गई जांच एवं हत्याकांड में जीवित बचे एक युवक के साक्ष्य के आधार पर सजा हुई है। विभूतिनारायण राय बाद में उत्तरप्रदेश पुलिस के महानिदेशक भी रहे। राय ने साम्प्रदायिकता और पुलिस की भूमिका पर अनेक पुस्तकें लिखी हैं।

Report by L S Herdenia, Convener, All India Secular Forum.
 

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Islamabad: Thousands of Pakistanis descended on the streets to demand death for Asia Bibi, a Christian labourer on death row for blasphemy. They brought out rallies in major cities of Pakistan on Friday after the Supreme Court reserved its verdict on Monday but didn’t release it for the public.

“The Pakistani city of Lahore was the center of Friday’s protests, which were organized by the anti-blasphemy party Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP). Demonstrations also took place in a number of other cities across the country, including Karachi and Rawalpindi,” reported RT.
Asia Bibi was accused of blasphemy in 2009 for allegedly insulting Prophet Mohammed. Cases of blasphemy immediately invite a death sentence in Pakistan and even though none of the people on the death row in Pakistan have been executed so far, Asia Bibi could become the first one pending SC order.

“According to Bibi’s autobiography ‘Blasphemy: A Memoir: Sentenced to Death Over a Cup of Water’ the incident began when she went to retrieve a cup of water from a well during a hot day of fruit picking. When a Muslim woman nearby saw her doing so she shouted, “Don’t drink that water, it’s haram (forbidden)!” She then turned to the other women in the field, telling them that Bibi had dirtied the water in the well by drinking from their cup. “Now the water is unclear and we can’t drink it! Because of her!” the woman said. Several women called Bibi a “filthy Christian” and told her to convert to Islam. “I’m not going to convert. I believe in my religion and in Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for the sins of mankind. What did your Prophet Mohammed ever do to save mankind? And why should it be me that converts instead of you?” Bibi said,” the report said.

Soon after, she was arrested on blasphemy charges.

Upholding her conviction, the Lahore High Court in Oct 2014 confirmed her death sentence. Asia has been under continuous solitary confinement for 9 years now and awaits her final verdict.

In her defence, Lawyer, Saiful Mulook argued in Court against the discrepancies in the filing of the report. He questioned in Court why a June 14 incident was filed on June 19 by the prayer leader of Kantawala village who was not present at the time of the argument. He also stated the contradictory arguments by the two Muslim women. The Chief Justice also highlighted that the witnesses didn’t testify against Bibi using defamatory language but mostly narrated the incident on the field.

Pope Benedict XVI had asked for Bibi to be pardoned in 2010 and Pope Francis had met her daughter in 2015.

The family is currently in London according to an Oct 14 report in Dawn. “Bibi’s family are in London on a visit organised by Aid to the Church in Need, a charity. But her family said that if Bibi is released, it would be difficult to stay in her homeland. ‘Pakistan is ours: we were born there, raised there,” [her husband Ashiq] Masih said. The only tension we have is the blasphemy law. Aasia Bibi, after her release, can’t stay there in the presence of this law. Living in Pakistan for us is very difficult. We don’t go out of our home and if we go, we come out very carefully. Life in Pakistan for us is very difficult,’ he said in the report. 

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Asia Bibi Fate Hangs in Balance: Pakistan

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The post Asia Bibi Fate Hangs in Balance: Pakistan appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Image: The Christian Post

Bibi, a mother of five from rural Punjab was convicted of blasphemy following an argument with her Muslim coworkers. According to a report, her coworkers allegedly refused to drink from the water bowl fetched by her. They claimed it was “contaminated” because she's a Christian.

Five days later, an imam who was allegedly not present during the argument accused her of defaming the prophet. Despite insisting she was being persecuted for her faith in a country where Christians face routine harassment and discrimination, Bibi was sentenced to be hanged the following year.

The news report says that citing the reason of “conflict of interest” one of the judges – Justice Iqbal Hameed-ur-Rehman requested to be replaced from the three-judge bench constituted for Bibi’s hearing.

As per the reports, Justice Rehman told the court, "I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salman Taseer, and this case is related to that." A letter was written to the chief justice to appoint another judge to the bench.

Former Punjab governor Salman Taseer was assassinated in 2011 after he supported Bibi of Christian faith, who was convicted of blasphemy in 2010. His assassin Mumtaz Qadri was executed after he was found guilty by the Islamabad High Court. Justice Rehman was the Chief Justice of the high court, when the court heard Qadri’s appeal.

However, by delaying justice for Bibi, the judiciary continues to bow down to Muslim fundamentalist groups, and fails to provide justice to vulnerable members of society.

Two days prior to the hearing of Asia Bibi’s appeal in the Supreme Court, fundamentalist organisations published advertisements and video clippings, warning the Judiciary not to accept Bibi’s appeal. The Judiciary received the message loud and clear.

Bibi had filed a review petition before the Supreme Court against her death sentence by the Lahore High Court in 2014, and it was kept pending for two years. It finally came up for hearing in the highest court on October 13. Alas, the judges surprised no one in ensuring the whole matter remained in abeyance.

The message from fundamentalists and from proscribed terrorist organisations appears to have suddenly activated the memory of the judge. Their threat appears to have reminded Justice Rehman that he was a part of the Bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer. Justice Rehman informed the court that Asia’s case relates to that of Taseer. The court was later adjourned indefinitely. Asia’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Mulook, said it would probably take weeks or months for a replacement judge to be found and for the appeal to be rescheduled.
 
If the decision of the lower court is going to be retained and Asia is hanged, she will be the first blasphemy accused to be executed by the State. Most blasphemy accused are lynched by angry vigilante mobs. Proponents of reform in the blasphemy law, including lawyers and judges, have been threatened, attacked, or even killed. Prominent amongst those are ex-Governor Punjab Salman Taseer and ex-Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Shahabaz Bhatti. They were killed for speaking against the blasphemy law and supporting Asia Bibi.

Orthodox religious zealots have also allegedly pressurised the government to deny Asia Bibi her right to medical treatment. Since June 2015, Asia has been suffering from intestinal bleeding. Jail authorities have reportedly denied her access to treatment, because extremist organisations are demanding that Bibi be executed immediately. The Judiciary is reluctant to defend Asia fearing dire repercussions from mullahs, who have been allowed full impunity by the State and are used as non-State actors to subjugate the general masses.

According to the news reports, about 150 top Muslim clerics (muftis) from the radical Islamist group Sunni Tehreek issued a statement which demanded that the government hang Asia Bibi and all other prisoners of blasphemy laws; and demanded a speedy trial of all cases still pending, before Bibi’s hearing earlier this month. They also issued a verbal decree that all those who might rescue those accused of blasphemy or who assist in trying to rescue them should be killed. 

Asia’s case is a classic example of a society marked by intellectual bankruptcy, one that manifests a cumulative failure as a nation to protect its vulnerable. The case has already resulted in two high profile murders and one hanging. Yet, it remains in the doldrums and there is no sign of relief for Asia and her family despite a lapse of seven years.

The judges are apprehensive; if they acquit Bibi, their lives, as well as that of their families are in danger. Mob vigilantism is the reality of the country; mobs dispense their idea of instant justice to any one uttering a single word deemed blasphemous. The mob spares no one, be they young or old, as witnessed in Kasur in 2014, when a Christian couple, along with their unborn child, was burnt alive over alleged blasphemy. No one has been convicted to date for the horrendous Kasur murder.

The number of complaints of blasphemy has increased significantly in Pakistan in the last three decades. Human rights activists have been saying that many of these complaints are filed in order to settles their personal scores.

A criminal justice system rife with loopholes allows anyone to wrongly accuse a person of blasphemy and get away with it. The alleged accused is however made to languish behind bars for years, even if they are innocent. Even when the case does proceed, it takes many years before a judgment is pronounced, and in most of the cases it is not favourable for the accused. This is partly because of the pressure exerted by fundamentalist religious groups and partly because the legal jurisprudence on blasphemy has still not been clearly established, ever since the promulgation of the notorious Section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The miscarriage of justice on the issue is a far cry from the reality of its application, as enunciated by several edicts on the issue, where a single unfortunate, ill-informed, ill-judged alleged utterance can lead to a conviction under the law, and to the death penalty.

Unknown to many contemporary pseudo-religious scholars, a fatwa (religious edict) issued by more than 450 reputed religious scholars from different schools of thought has clearly stated that a non-Muslim blasphemer cannot be killed unless he or she is “habitual in the offense”. Hundreds of leading ulema from South Asia have declared that non-Muslims cannot be killed for a single offense of blasphemy and their pardon is acceptable unless it becomes a habitual and high-frequency offense.
 
The founder of the sect that Mumtaz Qadri, murderer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer, belonged to, also endorsed pardon for non-Muslim blasphemers and the view that non-Muslims cannot be killed for a single offense of blasphemy.

Incidentally, the co-founder of the Deoband school of thought, another orthodox group that favors death penalty for the offence, Mahmood Hassan Deobandi, is also signatory to the said edict.

Going by the edict, Asia should have been acquitted, as she has begged pardon a number of times, and is not a habitual offender. According to Asia’s husband Ashiq Masih.

“Even if Asia is released, there is a bounty on her head so their lives could never return to how they once were. Thousands have protested against her and said they would kill her if she were ever released – including the imam in her own village,” he says.

The verbal brawl that started seven years ago has destroyed the life of Asia and her five children; the family lives under constant threat and is forced into a fugitive life. Asia herself is kept in solitary confinement; to keep her safe from other inmates who might kill her. As per her lawyers, it has been a year since she has seen the open sky.

By adjourning the cases indefinitely, the judges have tried to avert the pressure on them; however, for Asia, it will mean more years of incarceration and solitary confinement. Her misery has been compounded by the inaction of the Judiciary, which is dragging its feet in her case. No judge wants to be embroiled in the mess that can ensue following her acquittal. Even on the occasion of the hearing of the case, the government had to deploy thousands of security troops to avert any violence outside the Supreme Court.
 
Related story: Asia Bibi's hearing in the Pakistan SC adjourned: Judge claims "Conflict of Interest"
 

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