By Khalid Hussain
Giving asylum is honorable in high politics. Hence, it follows that the country whose citizen’s seek asylum must reclaim lost honourable. It is a matter of shame for Pakistan that so many of our citizen’s feel unsafe enough to seek asylum abroad.
The world is looking at us and rival neighbors are trying to make the most political capital on the sorry situation since the release of Aasia Bibi. The Supreme Court of Pakistan acquitted Aasia after establishing her innocence. The court ruled she did not commit blasphemy on 14 June 2009 and overturned her death sentence and ordered to set her free.
It was, therefore, a good move by the new government to arrest Tehreek Labaik Pakistan (TLP) leaders when they announced a new round of protests starting today. Violent mobs threatening to lock down the entire country, while calling for the heads of the judges who announced the verdict is a phenomenon as removed from religion as the state ought to be. Having successfully reduced terror attacks by countering the militant threat, Pakistan must now firmly uproot this confused notion of violent jihad by defeating it ideologically.
It was a sorry development that a segment of Islamists started agitating against the Supreme Court judgment. On November 01, a petition was filed calling on the Supreme Court to reverse its verdict. And wild unruly mobs took to the streets smashing cars and blocking roads across the country. The government negotiated with the leaders of the agitation and agreed not to oppose the petition in a much-criticized pact signed with protest leaders on November 02 in which it also said it would seek to place Bibi, 47, on the Exit Control List (ECL), which would bar any flight. Protests were called off while a review of the court ruling was undertaken.
This has led to the Pakistan government being accused of signing the death warrant of Aasia Bibi by blocking her from leaving the country. Pakistan has assured the United Kingdom and other Western countries of Aasia Bibi and her family’s safety and security. So it is news when the United Kingdom’s Foreign Office urges “the Home Office not to grant Aasia Bibi political asylum in the UK out of fear for the safety of UK consular staff”. The UK Minister of State, Home Office Baroness Williams of Trafford on November 20 while responding to questions and comments in the House of Lords said, “We welcome the ongoing assurances that the Government of Pakistan has given on keeping her and her family safe”.
Daily ‘The Guardian’ reported, “Aasia Bibi’s family being hunted ‘house to house’”. Aasia’s defence lawyer has gone to Germany and have sought asylum there. Aasia Bibi’s husband Ashiq Masih has also appealed for help to Britain, Canada, Italy and the US. Her family claims they are being hunted by extremists going house to house with their photographs to try to track them down. According to the newspaper, Bibi’s family have been in hiding since her acquittal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
Tolerance and progress are enshrined in our constitution. The only rule of law can make sure the constitution is translated into our living reality that reflects in society. For this to happen, the state has to make sure legislation is unbiased and rule of law has the highest priority to help ensure the safety and security of the citizens.
Pakistan has been often accused of reflecting a bias for radical Islamists. It is known how this came about. It was sown as a strategy in the society to mobilize people for the Jihad in Afghanistan against the Russians in the 1980s. Its continuation was a logical corollary to Taliban assuming power in Afghanistan. That this did not go away, or in other words, that the state in Pakistan failed to undo this dogmatic twist in society following 9/11 is often blamed at the Indian aggression in Kashmir which is sustained by religious fervour.
The American attack on Afghanistan and later occupation with NATO that continues to date, gave the whole Taliban led Jihad a wholly new twist that further complicated our social life and political situation. India blames
Pakistan although no Jihadis cross over into Kashmir now which means it makes no sense for Pakistan to continue supporting domestic Jihadi groups. But the people who formed these Jihadi groups came out of a social network that the CIA and other spy agencies created during the Afghan Jihad. What is left in Pakistan now must be looked at as blow back.
This is the background and history of the whole confusion of Pakistani versus Afghan Taliban one often encounters in national and international media. Almost 15 years of terrible terrorism that Pakistan suffered across the whole country only came to a close after the armed forces decisively defeated all known Jihadi groups operating out of the former Federally Administered Tribal Agencies (FATA) bordering Afghanistan. Pakistanis suffered in the millions when whole regions were displaced by internal migrations from Dir, Swat, Buner to North and South Waziristan. These people suffered violent expulsion from their homes as the armed forces fought the Taliban Jihadi extremists. This has been a very high price people have paid.
One cannot imagine anyone in Pakistan sustaining these extremist groups at these costs. Yet, the ongoing unrest and civil war in Afghanistan keep on spilling into Pakistan albeit now it fails to make any major impact. Events at the Lal Masjid in Islamabad spring to mind and one wonders how far removed these Jihadi groups are from the ethos of our own peaceful society.!
Bibi’s acquittal gave rise to hope this act of justice is not an isolated event in Pakistan. All citizens have the same rights in society to believe and worship as they please or to speak their minds. The judgment assured the future of Pakistan was going to be a just and proud one. It is for the leadership to make sure national honor is never compromised.
This requires a political resolve by the state to keep the society safe and secure. It is sad that most commentators blame the military establishment simply because Jihad was once a military strategy against the Russians in Afghanistan. We hope that the state takes the lead given to it by the superior judiciary by freeing Aasia Bibi that might well help unshackle Pakistan from the darker aspects of Jihad for the Americans in Afghanistan.
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Khalid Hussain is Resident Editor of TLTP – You may contact Khalid Hussain at Resident.Editor@lawtoday.com.pk.pk
