Hold your applause. Why is Khan making this announcement now? Why not in two weeks, after she is safely out of the country? Is he giving the furious Muslim mobs who have been baying for her blood and hunting house-to-house for her time to mobilize and renew their efforts to find and murder her? Why would he make this announcement otherwise, instead of secreting this poor woman out of the country without saying a word until the mission was completed?
“Pakistan releasing Christian woman long imprisoned for blasphemy,” by Kaswar Klasra, Media Line, April 15, 2019 (thanks to Loony Tunes):
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan has announced that Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who last year was saved from death row after being accused of blasphemy against Islam, will soon leave Pakistan to be reunited with her family.
“She will leave Pakistan in a couple of weeks,” Khan told foreign journalists in Islamabad.
News of the impending release came on the heels of British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s statement in the UK Parliament earlier this month that Bibi’s freedom was being negotiated.
“Making sure that she is safe and has somewhere safe to go is a top priority for this government,” Hunt told legislators. “We have had numerous discussions in private with [the] Pakistani government about how to progress on this. We are making progress, and I’m very hopeful that this will have a positive outcome.”
Pakistani authorities confirmed to The Media Line that the necessary documentation, including visa and air tickets, was ready.
“She is all set to travel abroad. We are waiting for the green signal from concerned authorities in this regard,” a senior government official told The Media Line on condition of anonymity.
Bibi, a Christian mother of five, had been on death row since 2010. She was accused of committing blasphemy in 2009, when she left home early one June morning for farm work, like many of the women in her village.On that fateful day, as she was picking berries under the scorching sun, she was asked by her colleagues to fetch some water from the nearby well. She set off, jug in hand. But on her way back, she took a sip of the water before handing it over to her Muslim co-workers, which made them furious.
In Pakistan, most Muslims refrain from eating or drinking with people of other faiths, whom they believe are impure. Angered by Asia’s taking a sip of water, her Muslim colleagues told her she was dirty and not worthy of drinking from the same cup as they.
A fierce argument erupted and harsh words were exchanged, climaxing with the Muslim workers accusing Bibi of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Several days later, police barged into Bibi’s house and arrested her on suspicion of blasphemy. During her trial, she maintained her innocence, but in 2010 was sentenced to death. She spent the past nine years in solitary confinement….