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ISLAMABAD – The release of a Christian woman in Pakistan, acquitted eight years after being sentenced to death for blasphemy, was postponed Friday after the authorities decided to ban her from traveling abroad as a result discussions with radical Islamists who want the public hanging. The agreement between the government and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party was reached in Lahore, where Islamists have been gathering for days.
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court overturned the 2010 conviction of the Asia Bibi for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. The Pakistani authorities will now ban Bibi from leaving the country until the Supreme Court reviews its verdict, Provincial Minister Noorul Haq Qadri said in accordance with the agreement.
In return, the protests in the big cities would stop, said the Minister of Religious Affairs of the government to Geo TV, according to the Reuters news agency. This was a day after Ghulam Mustafa, the attorney representing a Punjab provincial cleric who had made the initial blasphemy charges against Bibi, asked the Supreme Court to ask the court to review his acquittal.
The court has not yet set a date for the filing of the petition. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has not had to overturn its decisions, but judicial reviews generally take years.
The Bibi trial will continue until the end of the examination. The latest developments are likely to irritate advocacy organizations calling for the release of Bibi, who has been in prison for nine years since his arrest in 2009.
What did Asia Bibi do?
She was accused of blasphemy following an argument with two other farm workers who refused to drink in a can of water used by a Christian. A few days later, a mob accused him of insulting the Prophet of Islam, which resulted in his death sentence in 2010.
Bibi's family has always maintained her innocence and stated that she had never made such an insult. Since Wednesday's decision on the acquittal of Bibi, radical Islamists have blocked highways and damaged or torched dozens of vehicles in order to pressure the government to prevent the release of Bibi from a detention center. undisclosed.
Earlier in the day, some 5,000 Islamists gathered in the capital, Islamabad, and nearly 4,000 protesters staged a sit-in in Lahore, in the east of the country, demanding the cancellation. the verdict of acquittal of Bibi. Similar rallies also took place in the northwestern city of Peshawar; no cases of violence have been reported.
More than 2,000 protesters blocked a key road between Islamabad and the garrison town of Rawalpindi, causing traffic jams. Hundreds of people have also blocked another key highway linking Islamabad to other major cities.
A supporter of the Pakistani Islamist political party Tehreek-e-Labbaik sings slogans with others at a protest after the country's Supreme Court overturned the sentencing of a Christian woman sentenced to death for Blasphemy against Islam in Lahore, Pakistan, November 2, 2018.
Reuters / Mohsin Raza
No violence was reported at the rallies. Earlier, Pakistan had closed schools and colleges after radical leader Khadim Hussain Rizvi, leader of the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, announced the failure of "talks" between his deputies and the government on the fate of Bibi.
Friday before dawn, Rizvi had said at an emotionally charged rally that one of the government's negotiators had threatened his deputies, during talks, that the security forces would kill them mercilessly. They did not disperse peacefully. He asked his supporters to continue sitting down while the authorities had summoned paramilitary troops to restore order.
"We are ready to die to manifest our love for the prophet," he said. The emissaries of Rizvi had demanded that Bibi not be allowed to leave the country, but the Minister of Information, Fawad Chaudhry, initially rejected the request, saying the government would not accept any diktat.
Interior Minister Sheharyar Afridi said on Friday that officials were trying to persuade the Islamists to disperse their gatherings peacefully. The authorities also increased security near the institution where Bibi was detained for his safety.
On Thursday, prison officials announced that two detainees were arrested last month for planning to strangle Bibi to death. They said that men were always questioned.
Bibi's family was waiting for his release Thursday night. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, came back from England with her children in mid-October and was waiting for her release to leave Pakistan.
Although the family did not reveal the country of its destination, France and Spain offered asylum. Authorities in Islamabad have suspended mobile phone services in the city for 10 hours on Friday, to prevent crowds from getting bigger in the capital.
The acquittal of Bibi posed a challenge to the government of Pakistan's new prime minister, Imran Khan, who came to power this summer in part by continuing the Islamist agenda. President Afzal Qadri urged his supporters to kill the three judges who acquitted Bibi, to revolt against the army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, and to overthrow Khan's government.
Army spokesman General Asif Ghafoor said Friday that the military was showing restraint in order to give a chance to a peaceful resolution. He asked the protesters to refrain from any violence and wait for the result of the petition for review before the Supreme Court.
"Let this legal process be completed first," he told Pakistan's state-run television.
