Aasia Bibi case: Justice delayed, justice denied

About time blasphemy law is revisited

This is the horrific story of Aasia Bibi, a Christian labourer and mother of five, who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law by a court in the Nankana Sahib district of Punjab in 2010 and has been in police custody ever since. In 2013, her death sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court

Imagine being in prison on death row for over five years under charges that were never proved. There are extremists baying for your blood and you don’t have access to an adequate defence counsel. One of the Supreme Court judges who is hearing your appeal against the sentence distances himself from the case and your final appeal is adjourned for an indefinite period. You are uncertain if you will ever come out of the jail and get justice. This is the horrific story of Aasia Bibi, a Christian labourer and mother of five, who was sentenced to death under the blasphemy law by a court in the Nankana Sahib district of Punjab in 2010 and has been in police custody ever since. In 2013, her death sentence was upheld by the Lahore High Court.

Till date it has not been established as to what exactly Aasia said that was deemed blasphemous. In June 2008 Aasia fetched water for others working on the farm. Some women refused her water because she was Christian and she got into a quarrel with them. The same women are the ones who accused her of blasphemy and there is no evidence to back the statements of the complainants.

The Aasia Bibi case is particularly disturbing because it sums up pretty much everything that is wrong with Pakistan.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court was to hear Aasia’s final appeal against her death sentence, but the hearing was adjourned for an indefinite period after one of the judges, Justice Hameed-ur-Rehman, excused himself from hearing the case saying he was on the Islamabad High Court bench that heard the case of Salman Taseer and it was related to the Aasia Bibi case.

As a judge, it was his responsibility to serve justice and if he felt he would not be able to do his job, he should have distanced himself from the case much earlier. But this refusal to take up the hearing came at the last moment when human rights activists were waiting for justice to be served and hoping for Aasia Bibi’s release. Thousands of security personnel were deployed in the capital on the day of the hearing. Islamabad’s Lal Masjid had warned against Aasia Bibi’s ‘possible’ release as the court was set to hear the case. It is shocking how the government has completely surrendered to the extremist elements that try to influence verdicts of the courts. It is obvious that the judge who refused to hear the case did so because of security concerns, as threats to judges and lawyers involved with sensitive cases have been a norm in Pakistan.

Much has been written and said on the misuse of the controversial blasphemy law of Pakistan but there are very few chances of it being reformed anytime soon. Every time someone raises voice against the misuse of the law, extremist groups resort to threats and the person has to either restrict their movement or leave the country for their own safety. According to 2014 statistics by National Commission for Justice and Peace, a total of 494 Ahmedis, 187 Christians and 21 Hindus have been accused under various clauses of the blasphemy law since 1987. There may have been no executions under the law, but it has certainly paved the way for violence against the minority communities and the state has failed to do anything about it.

Former Punjab governor Salman Taseer, who dared to discuss the misuse of blasphemy law, was killed by his own guard and the murderer was very proud of his action. If that was not enough, there were lawyers and ordinary people celebrating and glorifying Mumtaz Qadri and hailing his action as a heroic one. There were protests after Mumtaz Qadri was hanged and his funeral drew huge crowds. Even five years after Salman Taseer’s death, there has been no debate on the topic of blasphemy law and the incidents of persecution under the law continue to happen. Even today, people are afraid to freely discuss the issue.

The blasphemy law has time and again been misused to settle personal scores and target minority communities. But those who claim to be the champions of justice did not utter a word in support of the hapless victims who have nowhere to go after being accused of blasphemy.

There are a lot of things wrong with the blasphemy law of Pakistan. First, the nature of the law makes it convenient for anyone to misuse it for settling personal scores. Second, individuals held under the law never get a fair trial and become victim of mob justice. The court proceedings are influenced by violent protests and sometimes the victim’s house is set on fire by violent mobs. Nowhere in the world is such a practice tolerated by the state, but in Pakistan the government has always played the role of silent spectator in such cases. The state has absolutely failed to control such violent incidents and this says a lot about the power of the extremist groups.

The governments have always been held hostage by right-wing extremists, but after Pakistan’s shift in policy on terrorism and extremism post-Army Public School (APS) attack, the mob justice and other kind of violence due to blasphemy law should have also been addressed. The statistics show that hardly anyone accused under blasphemy is given a fair trial – this should be reason enough for the government to introduce reforms to the law so the persecution of the minorities is ended. It is about time we understand that criticising the misuse of blasphemy law is not blasphemy.

Aasia Bibi’s case is an example of how flawed the justice system of Pakistan is. A woman is languishing in jail for six years for something which has not even been proved while terrorists and mass murderers are acquitted by our courts due to ‘lack of evidence’.

Those claiming to be the protectors of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)’s honour have forgotten his message of tolerance and are misrepresenting his name by targeting the vulnerable members of the society who cannot even defend themselves. Isn’t it blasphemous to commit violence in the name of the Prophet?

This intolerance just goes to show that today’s Pakistan is a million miles away from what Quaid-e-Azam Jinnah wanted. The civilian and military leaders who patronised and backed extremist groups for years are to be blamed for this mess. Aasia Bibi should be released and the government should take measures to ensure that no other Pakistani has to go through what she is going through right now. It is about time we undo the mistakes that we made in all these years and reclaim Jinnah’s Pakistan.