INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan appealed to the public to remain calm
vandalism after the Supreme Court acquitted a Christian woman sentenced to death for committing blasphemy.Prime Minister Khan addressed the
nation through a video message and his address was solely focused on the Asia Bibi verdict.Bibi, a 47-year-old mother of four, who was on a
death row for eight years for blasphemy, was acquitted by the top court in a landmark verdict which evoked protests, death threats from
hardline groups and cheers from human rights advocates."I ask these elements (protestors) to avoid confronting the State
But if they opted to do so, the State will fulfill its responsibilities," Mr Khan said."We will protect life and property of peopleWe will
not let them (protestors) involve in vandalism or close down the roads," he said, referring to protestors blocking a highway linking the
capital Islamabad with garrison city of Rawalpindi.Many parts of Karachi were paralysed due to the protests and most of the main roads were
shut down by the protesters who are burning tyres and pelting stones at vehicles.Mr Khan appealed to the public to remain calm and refrain
from joining those trying to create law and order problem in the name of Islam.The Prime Minister said that he was forced to give the
address after the reaction by protestors against the verdict and the kind of language they were using against State institutions.Mr Khan
also flayed a video clip of a leader of protestors on social media in which he said that the judges who gave the verdict were liable to
murder."How a State can function in such circumstancesThose involved in this are not doing any service to Islam
They are in fact enemies of Islam," Mr Khan said.Referring to the protesters who have disrupted routine life across the country, he said:
"If the Supreme Court does not issue a verdict according to their wishes, will they come out on the roads"The Prime Minister also said
Pakistan was created in the name of Islam and no law can be made against the teachings of Islam.He said the verdict was issued in the light
of the Constitution of the country which is also based on Islam.He said the government was working hard to improve the economy and the
protestors were creating hurdles to get political mileage out of the verdict."We are already facing such tough economic hurdles
We have yet to take a day off we are struggling continuously to uplift the people [and] to improve the conditions of the underprivileged,"
he said."The people are to bear the brunt of this
The labours who are reliant on daily wages how will they survive" he asked.Bibi was accused of committing blasphemy in 2009.She was
convicted by the trial court in 2010 after being accused of insulting Islam in a row with her neighbours
Her death sentence was maintained by the Lahore High Court in 2014.She always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the past eight
years in solitary confinement.She appealed against the conviction in the Supreme Court, which for the first time heard the case in July
2015.Bibi was the first woman who was given death sentence under the blasphemy laws.According to officials, Bibi might be flown out of
Pakistan due to threat to her life.It is not clear where she will go as several countries, including Canada, have offered asylum to her.
