Christian courage in the face of persecution

 

To understand Asia Bibi’s story and the scale of the threat for those facing blasphemy accusations, it is necessary to chart the rise of Islamism in Pakistan and its increasingly dominant role within the State and society.

 

Asia Bibi was sentenced under Article 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which imposes the death penalty for blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad.

 

Article 295C is part of a series of amendments to the PPC that were introduced in the early to mid 1980s in the time of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who became President of Pakistan in 1977. By putting in place what came to be known as the blasphemy laws, President Zia set Pakistan on a path that placed the honour of Islam at the pinnacle of the country’s system of law and order, imposing the harshest crimes for offenders.(2) Article 295B, for example, imposes life imprisonment for offences relating to defiling the Qur’an. Zia went much further than his predecessor in committing himself to establishing an Islamic state and Shari‘a Islamic law. Indeed, the primary policy of Zia’s government was “the Islamisation of institutions”.(3) In so doing, Zia can be accused of going against the spirit of Muhammad Ali-Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan and first premier.

 

 

When Pakistan first came into being in August 1947, following the partition of British India, he had proclaimed: “You are free; you are free to go to your temples. You are free to go to your mosques or to any other places of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed – that has nothing to do with the business of the state.” (4) Among the many other Islamisation initiatives President Zia-ul-Haq undertook was state sponsorship of religious madrassas (Islamic schools). At the time of partition in 1947, there were a reported 181 madrassas but the numbers grew exponentially during Zia’s time, rising to 2,801 at the end of his 11-year presidency.(5) The madrassas, which banned television and radio, came in for criticism by human rights observers for creating a climate of tension and sectarian hatred between different groups of Muslims (notably Shi’a, Sunni and Ahmadi) and against non-Muslims. Reports suggest that there may now be 30,000(6) madrassas in Pakistan. Other research gives a figure of more than 35,000 madrassas with a total of 3.5 million students enrolled.(7) Research of madrassa students indicates they are more intolerant than other student groups.(8) Aid to the Church in Need receives frequent reports that societal mistrust and sometimes contempt for Christians and other minorities fuels abuse of the blasphemy laws; the rule of law is often compromised by the power of the mob. Again and again, attacks on Christians and other

minorities sparked by blasphemy allegations show a determination by intolerant Islamist groups to take the law into their own hands and carry out summary justice. In the mind of such groups, the mere suggestion of an offence of blasphemy obliges observant Muslims to take it upon themselves to ensure the honour of the Prophet of Islam is upheld at all costs. And the execution of this form of justice sends out a further signal that Christians and other minorities are tolerated provided they strictly uphold the dignity of Islam.

 

All this helps to explain how it came to be that for Asia Bibi a day that started out like any other ended in complete catastrophe.

 

 

On the morning of 14th June 2009 Asia Bibi and a group of fellow women labourers set off to begin work harvesting berries in the Sheikhupura district, 30 miles west of Lahore.

 

As the heat of the summer sun grew stronger, Asia offered to fetch water for the party of workers. Two of them rejected her offer. In the witness testimony she was to give later, Asia explained what happened that fateful day:

 

“They refused [the water], saying that, since I am a Christian, they will never take water from my hand. Over this, the quarrel ensued and some hot words were exchanged between me and the… ladies. The [ladies] then approached [Imam] Qari Saalam. The [ladies] were conspiring with Qari Saalam got a false, fabricated case against me.”(9)

 

It was alleged that she had made blasphemous statements against the Prophet of Islam, Mohammad, comments the prosecution were to describe as “defamatory and sarcastic”.(10) The prosecution would later claim that she confessed her crime but it then emerged that she had done so only when a large crowd gathered round her and threatened to kill her. Asia insisted she was innocent but to no avail. She was found guilty under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code – defamation of the Muslim Prophet – and on 8th November 2010 the Lahore High Court sentenced Asia Bibi to death by hanging.

 

 

It would take more than eight years for Asia Bibi to win back her freedom. Others were to give their life for daring to suggest justice may not have been done in this case. Salman Taseer, the Minister of the Punjab, who had publicly intervened in her case, was assassinated by Mumtaz Qadri, one of his bodyguards, on 4th January 2011. Almost exactly two months later, Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities and, like Asia, a Catholic, was shot dead as he was being driven to work in the capital, Islamabad.