INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image caption
Asia Bibi's case has been hugely divisive in religiously conservative Pakistan
This
could have been an open and shut case.The complainants had quarrelled with Asia Bibi, and could be reasonably suspected of having dragged
her to the court out of malice.The fact that a formal police complaint was lodged at least five days after the incident created further
suspicions that evidence could have been fabricated.And if that were not enough, some glaring disparities emerged in the depositions of
different witnesses about the specifics of what happened when, where, and in whose presence.As in many countries, Pakistan's criminal
justice system puts the burden of proof on the prosecution
It applies strict rules of evidence to ensure the case is proved beyond all reasonable doubt.The slightest deficiency anywhere along the
process translates into a benefit for the defendant
But, for eight years, this was not what happened in Bibi's case.As is clear from Wednesday's Supreme Court judgement, the case ought not
to have travelled beyond the trial court stage in Sheikhupura district back in 2010.But it did, because it was no ordinary case
And because it was no ordinary case, the ruling is likely to go down in the annals of Pakistani law as an historic judgement.Image
copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption
Hardliners have protested the court's decision
Observers of Pakistan's
legal scene point out that the blasphemy charges against Asia Bibi were not unique.There have been cases in which men have been charged,
convicted, or acquitted under controversial blasphemy law that dates from 1986.But Bibi's case was different
For a start, she was the first female non-Muslim charged
And it sparked two successive assassinations of top government officials as well as a hanging.Significantly, it all happened at a time when
Pakistan was entering a new democratic phase at the end of an eight-year-long military rule
The powerful security establishment was struggling to maintain control over political decision-making.Image copyrightPRESS INFORMATION
DEPARTMENT/AFP/GettyImage caption
President Pervez Musharraf resigned in 2008 after seizing power in a bloodless
military coup in 1999
Extremist Islamism had already encroached on Pakistan's official state narrative in 1980s -
apparently to back the then-military regime's internationally supported anti-Soviet war in Afghanistan.The military used it as a powerful
tool against the democratic governments that followed in the 1990s.After the 9/11 attacks in the US, an era of Talibanisation of wider
society ensued, bringing the war home to Pakistani citizens.So, after the increasingly unpopular military regime of General Pervez Musharraf
gave way to the elected government of the left-wing, secular Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in 2008, the religious lobby was distrustful.It
was in this climate that a PPP leader and governor of its most powerful province - Punjab - Salman Taseer, was gunned down by one of his
religiously inclined bodyguards in January 2011.Why Because he had visited Bibi in jail, sympathised with her and expressed a desire to
reform the blasphemy law.Media captionSalman Taseer was repeatedly shot at close range with a sub-machine gunA couple of months later,
Pakistan's minister for minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, was shot dead for making similar remarks.These incidents put Bibi's case on
the anvil of the religious lobby, with the anti-blasphemy vigilante groups vowing to draw her blood or that of the judges who would dare let
her go.But while lower court judges are less protected and more exposed to threats from vigilante groups - which is why most blasphemy cases
end in convictions at the trial stage - a majority of the cases reaching the high court level are quashed, due to the absence of strong
evidence.So while Bibi's conviction by the trial court may be understandable, it could only be due to its high profile that the Lahore
High Court in 2014 desisted from overturning her conviction despite obvious gaps in evidence.And this is why today's Supreme Court
judgment is being termed "historic".Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption
A three-judge bench acquitted Asia Bibi
The three-judge bench which acquitted Bibi comprised the sitting chief justice, Justice Saqib Nisar, and his designated successor,
Justice Asif Khosa.Justice Nisar is due to retire in January, and there was speculation he could have delayed the announcement of the
verdict till after his retirement.Instead, he has gone ahead and taken the deliberate risk of becoming a target of the vigilante groups.The
first 11 pages of the main 34-page judgment, penned by Chief Justice Nisar, read like a tutorial: what constitutes blasphemy; why it ought
to be punished with death; why Pakistan incorporated laws to punish blasphemy; and how Pakistan inspired the 2009 United Nations resolution
that declared defamation of religion as a violation of human rights.It quotes copiously from the Quran and the Prophet's tradition to
But it then goes on to discuss "another aspect of the matter", which is that "sometimes, to fulfil nefarious designs, the law is misused by
individuals levelling false allegations of blasphemy".Image copyrightAFP/GettyImage caption
Several groups protested
against the Supreme Court's decision
It says 62 people have been killed for blasphemy since 1990 "even before their trial
could be conducted in accordance with the law", and mentions the lynching of Mashal Khan at Mardan University as the latest example
The order also underlines the Prophet's attitude towards other religions.In a separate 21-page note penned by Justice Khosa, he quotes
from what is known as St Katherine's Covenant to establish how the Prophet guaranteed protection to Christians in the Islamic state
Justice Khosa runs a greater risk than Chief Justice Nisar.He headed the bench which in 2015 upheld the death sentence of Mumtaz Qadri, the
self-confessed killer of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer
Qadri was hanged in February 2016.Media captionShaima Khalil reports on the funeral of Mumtaz QadriAfter killing Taseer, Qadri became a hero
of the anti-blasphemy lobby
After his death, he was given the burial of a saint in his village near Islamabad
A mausoleum has since been built over his grave where devotees flock to pray and make offerings.For anti-blasphemy leaders, Bibi's case
offered the court a chance to make up for his hanging by letting Bibi hang too.Apart from meeting the quid pro-quo, this would have turned
Bibi into a legally sanctioned example of what would happen when someone is accused of blasphemy the next time
But Justice Khosa has chosen not to set a questionable precedent.
