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President Zardari stays execution of Asia Bibi

posted by Junaid Qaiser | November 19, 2010 | In Original Articles

President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday stayed the execution of a Christian woman who was sentenced to death on charges of blasphemy. The woman, Aasia Bibi, was given the death sentence by an additional sessions judge in Nankana Sahib district a week ago on charges of committing blasphemy. President Zardari on Friday directed federal minister for minorities, to submit a report within three days.
Spokesperson to the president Farhatullah Babar said that the President asked Minorities Affairs Minister to submit a report within three days.

The Asia case raises the demand for the abolition of these discriminatory and inhumane laws, which were introduced in the 1980s by the  military dictator General Zia-ul Haq as part of an “Islamization” drive. It was under Zia that Pakistan developed its ‘draconian’ blasphemy laws. In 1982, Section 295-B was added to the Penal Code. It states, “Whoever willfully defiles, damages or desecrates a copy of the Holy Quran or of an extract there from, or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable with imprisonment for life.” In 1990, the Federal Shariat Court, which was authorized by General Zia, made death the only punishment for blasphemy.

Pakitan Peoples Party, the only mainstream liberal democratic party is in favour of the repeal of the laws because, simply, party is against all laws introduced by military dictators. The PPP under the visionary leadership of President Asif Ali Zardari is striving to ensure religious freedom, human dignity and social justice in Pakistani society and it is committed to address the long-standing issues of minorities, Party are making all-out efforts to uplift and empower minorities. During General Pervez Musharraf’s regime, the PPP has sought U.N. help to abolish a “discriminatory blasphemy law” that it said has been used to discriminate against the poor, particularly non-Muslims.

Fauzia Wahab, than coordinator of PPP’s human rights cell, has written a letter to the U.N., apprising her of the “threat posed to civil society in Pakistan by the law”.
“We want an end to this law as it is anti-human, this (law) is highly discriminatory and PPP has asked the U.N. to pressure the military regime to repeal it,” Wahab told media.
Fouzia Wahab wrote that the blasphemy law was first introduced by the British to protect the religious rights of Muslim minorities in the subcontinent.
After independence, this law should have been abolished. Instead it was made more stringent and the death sentence was made mandatory in 1980, 1982, 1986 and in 1991, which further aggravated the wave of intolerance in the socio-political structure of our country,” said the letter.
“It has become a means of hounding and harassing opponents and settling personal scores.”
Wahab said even oral evidence of a dubious kind is considered sufficient to award the death punishment under the law.
The recently released United States’s annual report on religious freedom 2010, noting with concern the situation in nine countries — Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, Pakistan, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan.
The report says violence by terrorists, extremists, and criminal gangs restricted the free exercise of religion and posed a significant threat to Iraq’s vulnerable religious minorities. In Pakistan, against the backdrop of continued extremist violence against civilian targets, the number and severity of reported cases against religious minorities increased. For example, in May, extremist attacks on two Ahmadi congregations in Lahore killed at least 86 people.

The US report also says, Despite the government’s steps to protect religious minorities, the number and severity of reported high-profile cases against minorities increased during the reporting period. Organized violence against minorities increased; for example, there was violence against Christians in Gojra, Punjab, and a terrorist attack on Ahmadis in Lahore, Punjab. There were instances in which law enforcement personnel abused religious minorities in custody. Security forces and other government agencies did not adequately prevent or address societal abuse against minorities. Discriminatory legislation and the government’s failure or delay in addressing religious hostility by societal actors fostered religious intolerance, acts of violence, and intimidation against religious minorities. Specific laws that discriminated against religious minorities included the anti-Ahmadi provisions of the penal code and the blasphemy laws which provided the death penalty for defiling Islam or its prophets. The Ahmadiyya community continued to face governmental and societal discrimination and legal bars to the practice of its religious beliefs. Members of other Islamic sects, Christians, Sikhs, and Hindus also reported governmental and societal discrimination.

Relations between religious communities remained tense. Societal discrimination against religious minorities was widespread, and societal violence against such groups occurred. Nongovernmental actors, including terrorist and extremist groups and individuals, targeted religious congregations. A domestic insurgency led by religious militants increased acts of violence and intimidation against religious minorities and exacerbated existing sectarian tensions. Extremists demanded that all citizens follow a strict version of Islam and threatened brutal consequences if they did not abide by it. Extremists also targeted violence against Muslims advocating for tolerance and pluralism, including followers of Sufism.


Thousands of individuals and organizations have petitioned the president of Pakistan, Asif Zardari, to ensure a proper appeal for Asia and issue a pardon if necessary. Asia Bibi has been in prison for one-and-a-half years and her case has been appealed.
Earlier Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer told media that Asia Bibi’s death penalty sentence is “a disgraceful episode. It is an embarrassment for Pakistan.”
“I want to send a strong message that we are here for the protection of minorities,We don’t want them to be targeted by these kind of laws. But we are in a coalition government and we have to get everyone on board to make any changes.” Taseer told Media.

“These laws are used to victimise Christians and other groups. They are a foul leftover from the military regime of General Zia-ul-Haq,” Taseer explained.

In a brief news conference at the prison where she’s being held, Asia sat next to Governor SalmanTaseer and said the allegations against her were lies, fabricated by a group of women who didn’t like her.
“We had some differences and this was their way of taking revenge,” Asia Bibi said.
“The allegation against me is baseless. I never said derogatory remarks against Prophet Mohammed[PBUH].”

Italy’s Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said on Tuesday he considered Asia to be “an exemplary case of Christian persecution” and vowed to join the fight to save her.
“The current law needs to be changed and the Pakistani government confirmed their commitment to do so during my visit” to Pakistan last week, he said during an interview with Vatican television.
Rights activists and minority pressure groups said it was the first time that a woman had been sentenced to hang in Pakistan for blasphemy, although a Muslim couple were jailed for life last year.
Human-rights activists want the controversial legislation repealed, saying it is exploited for personal enmity and encourages Islamist extremism.
The case has drawn attention to blasphemy laws, which critics say are used to persecute Christian and other minorities. The international campaign has continued to draw support around the world. And now the whole world demands: repeal Pakistan’s blasphemy law. This law is misused and people use it to settle score with each othe and now message more loud and clear, conceivably, would be to repeal the black law that grossly undermines the Constitution of Pakistan and indeed the teachings of Islam,  it must be repealed before more innocent people are killed by the ignorant who want to quench the thirst of their blood thirsty deity or celestial being  by killing innocent people.Let’s hope this time civilian  elected government and relatively sovereign parliament will make solid efforts to repeal these laws which have been used against innocents, time and again.

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About The Author

Junaid Qaiser

Latest Comments
  1. arooj

    thats a good omen but then just taking notice is not enough, i think he shoudl do something about it. The misuse of this particular law is really reaching to its height. Really shameful I must say.

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  2. Junaid Qaiser

    Anti-blasphemy motion scheduled for upcoming Parliament session

    Sherry Rehman, a member of Parliament, of the Pakistan Peoples Party and Chairman of the Jinnah Institute, has told media that the next session of the National Assembly will present “a motion for the review of the anti-blasphemy law.” It will be another intent – after those that have failed in the past – taking advantage of the awareness that has spread in public opinion, on both a national and international level, through the story of Asia Bibi.

    The motion will aim to set in motion the Subcommittee on Blasphemy, which exists within the Parliamentary Committee for Religious Minorities, but, Rehman notes, it aims to “involve all Parliament, to make it give the Commission a clear mandate for a proposed revision.”
    Sherry Rehman slams abuse of blasphemy laws
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIEkxy3-wHs

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  3. dr. yasir irshad

    zardari is helpless here ..he couldnt repeal the punishment…reasons are 1.immense pressure of mullah and pro fundamentalist establishment…2 appeal can still be made in higher courts….

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  4. Junaid Qaiser

    Blasphemy laws being misused: Asma Jahangir
    ISLAMABAD: President of the Supreme Court Bar Association Asma Jahangir has said that the blasphemy laws are being misused in the country.
    Her remarks come at a time when the Lahore High Court has sentenced the Christian mother of five, Aasia Bibi to death for blasphemy, under the controversial section 295-C of Pakistan’s Penal Code.
    Talking to media in London she said that the death penalty should be abolished from the country. She also said that such cases should be heard by the High Court. Asma Jahangir further said that changes should be made in the rules of death penalties.
    She expressed her discontent with the performance of the government and said that the Army Chief should not have been given extension.
    http://tribune.com.pk/story/79782/blasphemy-laws-being-misused-asma-jahangir/

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  5. Ansar Abbasi

    PPP is not against the military laws….PPP specially Zardari is against the all Islamic law. He is son of …..
    this case is better to handle under the Shariyan Law but how the hell is he to interfere in Islamic Laws. Even i’m sure he is not Muslim also. he is simply …..I love General Zia and Imran Khan.

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  6. ZAIN

    MUST HANG THIS BASTERED LADY AND HANG HER TILL DEATH..HANG ALL THOSE WHICH ARE HELPING TO AASIA BIBI..BECOZ AASIA BIBI GAVE WRONG REMARKS ABOUT OUR”””HOLY PROPHET MUHAMMAD PBUH”””…THERE IS NO WAY TO LET HER GO..ALL PATHANS SHOULD BE TOGETHER TO KILL HER AND ALL THOSE WHOM ARE GOING TO HELP AASIA BIBI..THEY CONSIDER THAT WE WILL GAVE WRONG COMMENTS ABOUT ISLAM AND AFTER THE REMARKS WE WILL SAY SORRY AND ALL WILL BE FINISHED…NO….I REQUEST TO ALL PATHANS THAT NEVER LEAVE AASIA BIBI ALIVE AND HER HELPERS TOO…WE WILL GAVE LIVES FOR THE SAKE OF ISLAM ….BE REMEMBERED THAT WE ARE MUSLIMS AND “”””MUHAMMAD PBUH”””IS OUR HOLY PROPHET…..IF TRULY TALIBAN IS FIGHTING FOR ISLAM THEN THEY MUST KILL AASIA BIBI AND HER SUPORTERS…DONT HANG OR SHOOT HER …FIRST CUT HER HEAD AND THEN ALL BODY PARTS AND THROW THEM INFRONT OF DOGS SO THEY IT THIS BASTERED LADY…DONT BE MARCY UPON HER CHILDREN AND KILL…IF ANYONE LEAVE HER ALIVE THEN THAT PERSON WILLBE OUT OF ISLAM..
    SALAM TO ALL MUSLIMS AND THOSE WHOM ARE NOT IN THE FAVOUR OF BASTERED AASIA BIBI…

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