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It's a cold morning and a light blue fog has settled on Rawalpindi as we arrive at St. Joseph's Cathedral in the city. A security guard, wrapped in navy shawls and a purple balaclava, takes us in, where the land is deserted and motionless. A feeling of unease is palpable among the stream of worshipers who get up early in the morning.
It has been 10 days since Asia Bibi, a Catholic woman, was acquitted of blasphemy for blasphemy on October 31st.
Bibi, a mother of five from Punjab province, was sentenced in 2010 after being accused of desecrating the name of the Prophet Muhammad during a dispute with Muslim women about drinking water. She was sentenced to death and spent nearly eight years on death row before being acquitted.
The country's strict blasphemy laws are a subject of great sensitivity in Pakistan; Charges of blasphemy have resulted in an increase in the violence of the population and lynchings in some parts of the country.
The Supreme Court ruling was applauded by liberal activists and lawyers in the country, with Amnesty International calling for "clarity of the message". The blasphemy laws will no longer be used to persecute Pakistani religious minorities who have been suffering for so long. "
The acquittal nonetheless allowed thousands of protesters to take to the streets angrily against the Supreme Court's decision. The protesters called for the hanging of Bibi and attacked the judges, the media, the army and any man or woman who would dare to defend his case.
An agreement was reached between the government and the protesters following a three-day retreat.
Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), a right-wing Islamist group, also agreed to suspend demonstrations provided that Bibi was not allowed to leave the post. country. It is unclear where she is currently, as she was transferred from her prison to a secret location
As rumors about the safety of Bibi and her family are growing, there are wide discussions about the protection of the tiny Christian minority of Pakistan.
"We just want the situation to go away"
CNN is invited to visit the cathedral of the Pakistani garrison town of Rawalpindi in the early hours of the day to avoid the danger. needlessly attract attention to the site. Mothers who arrive at the neighboring convent to drop off their children avoid looking at us, we look away when we ask them questions about the case of Asia Bibi.
"Do not call us, please, they say. "But we are Christians and if Muslims are not immune from these conversations, we are nothing for these people, we respect the judgment of the Supreme Court and it is paramount, I simply want that this situation disappears and that this tension disappears.
One of the former Christian watchmen of St. Joseph's told CNN that he is "grateful for the presence of military near the church." However, he notes that the feeling of fear has begun to haunt him since the capital was put into receivership after acquittal.
CNN attempted to speak to members of the Christian community living in the Islamabad and Rawalpindi neighborhoods, but not everyone wanted to express themselves for fear of retaliation, citing charged emotions that surrounded them following the acquittal of Bibi.
The Blasphemy Law Shadow
Romana Bashir, an Islamabad-based Christian rights activist, tells CNN that if the country's blasphemy laws have serious repercussions, educated Muslims, the difference is that "unfortunately, when a Muslim is accused, it is only an accusation against a person."
She added that when an individual from the non-Muslim world is charged, "the whole community is marked and labeled in the same way". crime. "
Pakistani Christians represent only 1.59% of the population, which has more than 200 million inhabitants. But Peter Peter, executive director of the Lahore Center for Social Justice, believes the impact of blasphemy laws on minorities is extremely disproportionate, with 50 percent of non-Muslim defendants. Bashir adds that the lives of these individuals are plunged into a whirlwind of uncertainty.
"When you are accused, you can not live in the same place, your family is threatened, your whole community is threatened, you must leave everything you love. The impact is very serious, "she said.
A climate of fear
At the announcement of the acquittal of Bibi, havoc erupted in the streets of Pakistan; Roads were blocked with mbadive containers, rioters attacked cars with stones and burnt tires, and anarchy and rage spread through the population.
Jacob told CNN that his organization had recorded cases in which rioters had asked travelers to disclose their religion. they were Christians, "they were out of their car and beaten."
As the state provided additional security for churches and schools, Jacob revealed that "the mental and psychological scars" inflicted on the Christian community would continue in the country. "Climate of current fear".
As major militant attacks on Christians have decreased, activists tell CNN that the main problem facing the community is systematic bias in Pakistani society. According to Bashir, in 2014, in an attempt to fill minority quotas in public employment, Christians were regularly offered low-skilled jobs, such as sweepers and clerks, rather than higher-level positions.
School textbooks still seldom mention the achievements of Pakistani minorities, while in the Punjab province members of the Christian community occupy most of the slums in the region.
Bashir also tells us that, according to his organization's research, Rawalpindi's Peace and Development Foundation, there has been no attempt at political engagement of minorities in recent years, as the number of seats in parliament attributed to minorities remains static. Yet the total number of seats has increased over the past decade, "automatically reducing the representation of minorities".
Bridges of harmony burn
Bashir has been working for many years to promote the rights of women, minorities and religious tolerance. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed her to the Commission for Religious Relations with Muslims.
She stated that trust between the leaders of the Muslim community and members of the Christian and Christian communities has been greatly enhanced. minority communities in recent years. This trust, she says, has been jeopardized by the difficult atmosphere that followed the recent protests in the country.
"People on both sides are now afraid to come forward, there is no ground for discussion, there is no air for the reconciliation, it's as if the bridges of harmony had been burned as a result of the acquittal, "she said.
The whereabouts of Asia Bibi are currently unknown, secretly hidden for its security and survival. Unable to be free in her home country, she now has to escape under the guise of faraway lands offering her asylum and the promise of a safer life. According to the Pakistan Human Rights Commission, at least another forty people would be under sentence of death or life sentence for blasphemy
In the shadows From this uncertainty, many Christians in Pakistan hope to avoid the fate of Asia.
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