Christian blasphemy convict ‘fit as a fiddle’

Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman convicted of blasphemy and currently imprisoned in Sheikhupura Jail, is in perfect mental and physical condition as opposed to recent reports in a section of the press stating that her condition is “frail”, Pakistan Today learnt on Wednesday.
Non-government organisation (NGO) ‘Masihi Foundation’, which purportedly “takes care of the legal and material assistance” of Aasia Bibi, recently claimed that their team had met her in prison on December 19 (Monday) and stated that because of her solitary confinement, “Aasia, 46, appears considerably older, has a pale complexion, she looks very frail, even unable to stand on her own”.
The report made several other claims aimed at highlighting the ‘fact’ that Aasia’s mental health was declining, implying at times that she had lost, or was losing, her mind.
It also spoke of the unhygienic conditions she was being kept in.
However, after a thorough investigation, several senior officials told Pakistan Today that Aasia was in perfect mental and physical condition and the claims in this regard were fabricated.
“During the whole conversation – over 2 hours and 20 minutes – her trail of thoughts were drifting,” the Masihi Foundation had told Agenzia Fides, the Catholic news service. “She reacted in mixed emotions, laughing, crying and going silent for long period of time.” The report was later carried by AFP and appeared in the local press on Wednesday.
An independent investigation revealed that Nankana Sahib Additional District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Saleem visited Aasia on Monday along with jail physician Dr Irfan Riaz. The judge spent more than 10 minutes with her and a perfectly lucid Aasia told him she was “perfectly fine”.
“Aasia is in a perfect condition and the Punjab Home Department has assigned a female doctor especially for her, and she pays her regular visits,” Dr Riaz said.
Jail Superintendent Sheikh Khalid said that it was impossible that the NGO could have met Aasia since she was allowed an extremely limited number of visitors for her own safety. “The news is totally baseless and ridiculous… Only her husband Aashiq Masih and daughters are allowed to meet her. Any claims of having met her are being made with wrong intentions,” he said.
Punjab Home Department officials dealing with the matter revealed further that no one in the recent past had been granted permission to see Aasia.
“No one, whether a local or a foreigner, has been granted permission to meet Aasia in the recent past… the Home Department did receive a couple of requests in this regard, but both of them were stamped ‘No Further Action’ and have been pending,” an official, who wished to remain unnamed, told Pakistan Today.
Home Secretary Shahid Khan also said Aasia was in perfect mental and physical condition as all prisoners were kept under the prison rules and it was “impossible” for officials to not take care of a case which could immediately attract international attention.
Efforts to obtain a version from Haroon Barkat Masih, the international director of Masihi Foundation, or his team were unsuccessful as they did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Aasia’s case attracted international media attention following the brutal assassinations of two high-profile government officials, Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer and federal minister for minorities’ affairs Shahbaz Bhatti.