Christian Woman cquitted Of Blasphemy To Leave Pakistan

A Christian woman acquitted in Pakistan after eight years on
death row for blasphemy plans to leave the country soon, her family
said Thursday, and authorities said they arrested two prisoners
last month for conspiring to kill her.

Radical Islamists mounted rallies across the country for a
second day after Pakistan’s Supreme Court in a landmark ruling
overturned the 2010 conviction against Asia Bibi for insulting
Islam’s Prophet Muhammad. The charge of blasphemy carries the death
penalty in this majority Muslim nation.

Bibi’s acquittal posed a challenge to the government of
Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to power this
summer partly by pursuing the Islamist agenda. He asked protesters
not to “test the patience of the state.”

On Thursday, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said the
government was avoiding the use of force against demonstrators to
resolve the issue peacefully.

Bibi remained at an undisclosed location Thursday, where the
54-year-old mother of five was being held for security reasons,
awaiting her formal release, her brother James Masih told The
Associated Press.

Masih said his sister simply would not be safe in Pakistan.

“She has no other option and she will leave the country soon,”
he said. Masih would not disclose the country of her destination
but both France and Spain have offered asylum.

Also on Thursday, jail officials said two inmates were arrested
last month at an undisclosed detention facility for planning to
kill Bibi by strangling her. They said the men were still being
questioned.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were
not authorized to speak to the media.

A female commando who is part of a team of police and
paramilitary troops deployed to protect Bibi, told The Associated
Press that Bibi was reading a Bible when the news about her
acquittal was conveyed to her.

Bibi was wearing green and orange traditional Pakistani dress
and a scarf when an AP reporter saw her at the facility.

According to the female commando, who asked to remain
unidentified as she was not authorized to speak to media, Bibi upon
hearing news of her release said the judges gave her a new life and
she was grateful to them.

Asia Bibi said the judges gave her a new life.
Officials said Bibi is at a safe facility but that she still fears
for her life and has trouble sleeping, fearing someone might harm
her.

Bibi’s husband, Ashiq Masih, had returned from Britain with
their children in mid-October and was waiting for her to join them,
the brother said.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 Islamists blocked a key road linking
the capital Islamabad with the garrison city of Rawalpindi on
Thursday, demanding Bibi be publicly hanged. Authorities deployed
paramilitary troops, signaling they could move in to clear the
roads.

Hundreds also blocked another key motorway, linking Islamabad
with major cities such as Lahore and Peshawar, chanting slogans
against Bibi and demanding her execution.

Later on Thursday, lawyer Ghulam Mustafa filed a petition in the
Supreme Court requesting the judges review the acquittal as the
government began talks with rally organizers to end their protests,
which led to dozens of vehicles being torched.

Meanwhile, opposition lawmakers in parliament called Thursday
for reforming the judicial system and Pakistan’s controversial
blasphemy law — so that innocents like Bibi wouldn’t spent years
languishing in jail.

Hafiz Saeed, a radical cleric wanted by the United States, urged
followers to hold rallies across Pakistan on Friday to condemn
Bibi’s release. Saeed is the founder of the outlawed
Lashkar-e-Taiba group, which was blamed for the 2008 Mumbai attacks
that killed 166 people.

Protesters, rallied by firebrand cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi,
also set up roadblocks and burned tires in the southern port city
of Karachi while hundreds clashed Thursday with police in various
parts of eastern Punjab province.

Many parents kept their children from school, fearing more
violence.

The Islamists also called for the killing of the three judges,
including Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, who acquitted Bibi.

The three are on the hit list of Rizvi’s Tehreek-e-Labbaik
party, which has demanded a public execution for Bibi. Rizvi has
managed to turn out tens of thousands of supporters in the past,
often forcing authorities to bow to his demands on religious
matters.

Tehreek-e-Labbaik claimed Thursday that two of its supporters
were killed by police fire during overnight clashes in Karachi. No
government official could immediately confirm any casualties.

In his televised speech, Prime Minister Khan warned the
Islamists: “Let me make it very clear to you that the state will
fulfill its responsibility.”

Bibi’s lawyer, Saiful Malook, has gone into hiding as the
extremists had threatened his life as well.

On Wednesday, cleric Afzal Qadri, with Rizvi by his side, urged
a crowd of supporters outside the Punjab provincial parliament in
the city of Lahore to revolt against army chief Gen. Qamar Javed
Bajwa and overthrow Khan’s government.

Bibi’s acquittal, however, has been seen as a hopeful sign by
Christians in Pakistan, where the mere rumor of blasphemy can spark
lynchings. Religious minorities, who have been repeatedly targeted
by extremists, fear the law because it is often used to settle
scores and to pressure minorities.

Bibi was arrested in 2009 after she was accused of blasphemy
following a quarrel with two fellow female farm workers who refused
to drink from a water container used by a Christian. A few days
later, a mob accused her of insulting Islam’s prophet, leading to
her 2010 conviction.

Bibi’s family has always maintained her innocence and says she
never insulted the prophet.