A Glimmer of Hope from Pakistan?
by Babette Francis, National and International Coordinator of Endeavour Forum Inc.
In my articles about Pakistan in the past few years I have been highly critical of that country's human rights record, its treatment
of religious minorities and, in particular, the plight of Asia Bibi,
the Catholic mother of five who has been on death row for the
past eight years on spurious charges of blasphemy.Recently, Asia Bibi was acquitted of the blasphemy charges by Pakistan's Supreme Court, but her travails were far from over. She was not able to walk free as would any defendant in a democratic country who was found to be innocent of criminal charges. Incidentally, in Pakistan blasphemy is not only a criminal charge but a capital offence. While no one has so far been executed on charges of blasphemy, there are several Muslims as well as non-Muslims imprisoned and awaiting trial on charges of blasphemy.
After Asia Bibi's acquittal, there were violent riots in Pakistan with mobs calling for death not only for Asia Bibi but also for the judges who acquitted her.
Imran Khan, former Test cricketer and currently Prime Minister of Pakistan, initially welcomed Asia Bibi's acquittal, but subsequently appeared intimidated by the riots. He gave in to demands that there would be some kind of legal appeal against Asia Bibi's acquittal and that she would be barred from leaving the country, even though several European countries have offered her asylum. Both she and her family are in some kind of protective custody pending further legal proceedings.
To its shame, the British government, despite appeals by the British Pakistani Christian Association, has refused to offer asylum to Asia, citing reasons of security and fears that her presence in Britain would inflame religious tensions with its Muslim community.
So Asia Bibi remains in some kind of legal limbo and her plight is an example of the misery caused by radical Islam. If she is such an offensive person, one would think that the street mobs would be happy to be rid of her and would welcome her departure on the first available flight out of Karachi. But no, they prefer rioting in the streets and baying for her blood.
However, now comes an unexpected and hopeful development. The Pakistani clerics who led the violent protests over Asia Bibi's acquittal have been charged with terrorism.
Leaders of the hard-line Islamist group that staged violent protests across Pakistan after Asia Bibi's acquittal will face charges of terrorism. Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) party leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi and several senior figures were detailed last month after they shut down major cities. They will also face sedition charges. TLP had demanded not only that Asia Bibi be hanged but that the judges who acquitted her be killed and the government overthrown.
On December 1, Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry announced that Mr Rizvi had been "charged under sections of sedition and terrorism" in a police station in the eastern city of Lahore. Three other senior TLP figures are facing the same charges.
"Today we have decided to take legal action against the TLP leadership," Mr Chaudhry told a media conference. "All those who were directly involved in destroying property, who misbehaved with women, who set fire to buses, are being charged under laws of terrorism at different police stations." The move represents a hardening of the authorities' stance towards the group, which in late 2017 paralysed the capital Islamabad for several weeks and clashed with the police in deadly protests.
TLP members called off their protests after negotiating with the military and reaching a deal with the government, which made many concessions to appease the group. However, Mr Rizvi was then detained, which authorities said was not an arrest but was for his own protection. Mr Chaudhry said more than 3,000 TLP members had also been arrested.
The TLP extremist group, whose main focus is protecting Pakistan's draconian blasphemy laws, had sinister beginnings. It originated from a movement supporting a bodyguard who assassinated Punjab provincial governor Salman Taseer who was advocating for Asia Bibi in 2011.
In early November this year, Ms Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul- Mulook fled the country and sought asylum in the Netherlands.
Blasphemy is a deeply emotive issue in Pakistan's staunchly religious society, and officials have been unnerved by how much support Mr Rizvi's TLP has garnered across the country in the two years since the group entered mainstream politics. Mr Chaudhry said Mr Rizvi's deputy, Afzal Qadri, has also been charged with terrorism and sedition, along with senior TLP leaders Inyatul Haq Shah and Hafiz Farooq ul Hassan.
Christians in Pakistan were greatly encouraged when the country's army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, hosted a dinner in honour of senior Christian leaders in August. He praised the contribution of Pakistani Christians to the nation, especially in education and healthcare, as well as the outstanding role played by a number of Christians in the military defence of Pakistan. His gesture means a great deal to a Christian community who are greatly despised by the Muslim majority.
The TLP's Mr Qadri shocked many Pakistanis last month when he called for the overthrow of the army chief, an unthinkable comment in Pakistan, where the military is rarely criticised in public and the army normally does not tolerate such dissent. "Sedition has a sentence of life imprisonment, they can face life imprisonment. All the charges will be submitted before courts," Mr Chaudhry said.
It is to be hoped that the Pakistani government is realising that violence only breeds more violence and does not provide solutions, and that revolutions end up devouring their own.
In the meantime we should all pray for Asia Bibi and her family, for Imran Khan, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and for the country itself that, instead of remaining an Islamist theocracy prone to violence, it will become a genuinely peaceful democracy.
Babette Francis, who was born in India, spent some time in
the provinces of India that became Pakistan subsequent to
the Partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947. 