As reported recently in the news feed, the Pakistani Christian Asia (or Aasia) Bibi has lost her appeal against a death sentence for blasphemy. If she is in fact executed, it will be the first time a Christian has ever been officially executed for blasphemy in Pakistan. There have of course been many, many informal mob killings of “blasphemers” — sharia executions — but none carried out by the legal apparatus of the state.
Ms. Bibi has been in jail for five years, and her family has had to go into hiding. See The Independent and The Daily Mail for details on her case.
Our expatriate English correspondent Peter sends the following essay about Asia Bibi.
“I’m as Mad As Hell and I’m Not Going to Take This Any More”
by Peter
So said the character played by the late Peter Finch in the film Network, a 1976 American film about a fictional television network and its struggle with poor ratings. I don’t have any ratings so what’s making me so mad all of a sudden?
This morning’s newsletter from the Barnabas Fund has announced that the appeal made by Pakistani Christian mother Aasia Bibi against her conviction under Pakistan’s “blasphemy law” has been rejected and the death sentence she was given confirmed.
Aasia’s appeal was dismissed on Thursday 16th October at a hearing held at the High Court in Lahore. She has been languishing in prison since being falsely accused of defiling the name of Muhammad during an argument with Muslim co-workers in 2009.
The director of the Barnabas Fund, Doctor Patrick Sookhdeo, has asked his followers to pray for Aasia and her family and to consider writing to their elected representatives on Aasia’s behalf in the following terms:
Dear __________________,
I am writing to you as my elected representative to express my deep concern about the situation of Aasia Bibi who has been under a death sentence in Pakistan for blasphemy since 2010. Her appeal has just been refused by the High Court Lahore.
As you may know, Aasia Bibi’s case has received widespread international attention due to the nature of the alleged offence, the drastic penalty imposed by the law, and the violence that has surrounded her case including the murders of prominent politicians. As well as calling for justice for Mrs Bibi, I fear that the reputation of Pakistan is being tarnished by this case and the prospect of an innocent wife and mother being executed by the state.
In 2009 Aasia Bibi, a 45-year-old Christian mother and farm worker from Punjab, was falsely accused of insulting Muhammad, which is a criminal offence in Pakistan and carries a mandatory death penalty. She was prosecuted and convicted in November 2010. Aasia appealed against her sentence, but this appeal was eventually turned down on 16th October 2014.
Human rights lawyers question the impartiality and independence of the criminal proceedings that resulted in Aasia’s conviction and the quality of the evidence upon which her guilt was established. Apparently the accusation arose after heated discussions with other women in the village who attacked her Christian beliefs.
Militant Muslims call loudly for the death sentence to be carried out, threatening to kill her themselves. One mullah has offered a financial reward to anyone who does so. Two leading Pakistani politicians who have sought to highlight the miscarriage of injustice suffered by Aasia have been shot dead. Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab, was murdered in January 2011, and Shahbaz Bhatti, the Pakistani Cabinet Minister responsible for the protection of minority rights in Pakistan, was killed in Islamabad on 2 March 2011.
As my elected representative, I would ask you to urgently raise the issue with the government and ask them what measures they are taking to convey public concern to the government of Pakistan. Millions of people are watching this case and want to see justice and freedom for Aasia, perhaps via a Presidential pardon. Would our government be prepared to offer Aasia and her family asylum in this country if she is freed? I would also be grateful if you would express public concern to the official representatives of Pakistan in our country.
Yours sincerely,
Your name here.
In the UK you can write to your MP at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA or contact them via the Find Your MP section of the Parliamentary website.
You may also want to consider writing to the Pakistani authorities on Aasia’s behalf:
His Excellency Syed Ibne Abbas
High Commissioner
Pakistan High Commission
35-36 Lowndes Square
London
SW1X 9AJ
The Barnabas Fund is based in the UK and subscribers will presumably send their letters to their UK MPs and MEPs as advised. However, Gates of Vienna is worldwide, and if all our subscribers took the trouble to approach all of their MPs, MEPs, Congressmen, Senators, Commissars, or whatever representatives of the people are called in their neck of the woods and made enough noise, maybe, just maybe we might make a difference.
This time we have to.
Patrick’s sample letter is excellent but it doesn’t quite express the way I feel. Those who have read my recent contributions on Pakistan and the UK will be aware of those feelings. While I do not believe anyone in high office is unfamiliar with the nefarious workings of the police state, Islamo-fascist theocracy and mob-ruled nest of vipers that is Pakistan, we should spell it out to them that we know, too, and we want something done about it.
Just to refresh everyone’s memory: a couple of years ago Pakistan acquired a fleet of twenty F-16 fighters at a total cost of $1.4 billion and then, just a few months later had the gall to launch a worldwide appeal for funds to help them combat the effects of a natural disaster. Where did the proceeds of that appeal go? Some of it might even have got to the victims, but by no means all of it. Pakistan fights its battles by the use of proxies, such as the Haqqani group in the Afghan/Pakistani border areas, various armed groups in Kashmir and of course, the Taliban. All of these people have to be equipped, armed and paid and if they aren’t being paid out of your taxes in the form of foreign aid, then they are being paid from any donations you might be unwise enough to make to that evil state — a nuclear-armed evil state at that.
A little while back, the New York Times described the tax system of Pakistan as A banana republic tax system, where the rich concocted a way to avoid paying taxes — total tax evasion on an industrial scale, where 10 million people should be paying taxes, but only 2.5 million do and all of this is legal. Nawaz Sharif, the Bhuttos and Benazir’s husband, former president Zardari have all been indicted for fraud and tax evasion. Pakistan is an oligarchy (a government in which a small group rules predominantly for corrupt and selfish purposes) which exempts the rich from paying income tax, yet how does the civilized world respond? By throwing dollars, pounds, euros, yuan, roubles and any other exchangeable units of currency at this country so it can kill more people and extend its hegemony in the area. They also have a narcotics industry that is at least equal to the Pakistani Gross National Product — but who gets the money?
Now, Patrick Sookhdeo’s letter is very polite — as indeed it should be if you are asking someone to do something for you — but maybe you feel you should do something more. After all, the people you are writing to are sitting there on their well-upholstered posteriors untouched and untouchable. Maybe you think they need a more direct message. For those who wish to send Patrick’s letter, please do so — and may God bless you for doing so but for those who feel they need to do more, please continue reading.
A few weeks back. I wrote this on GoV’s website, some of you might remember it:-
“Though they have been cowed into discreet silence by the militants, the Pakistani political establishment disapproves of death sentences for blasphemy. However, their disapproval should not be mistaken for humanity or even sympathy for the injustices suffered by Christians and other persecuted minorities. It is merely a symptom of the pragmatism that drives most political institutions as they cling precariously to power. They know full well that the execution of a single Christian for blasphemy would provoke global outrage from every international organisation concerned with human rights and this might well reduce or curtail any foreign aid they might have been anticipating.”
Has the Pakistani establishment been emboldened by the apparent weakness of the west? Are they going to use Aasia Bibi’s death as a sop to the Islamic militants? If so, they must be prevented from doing so.
If you wish to write a stronger letter to your political representative, just remind them of this:
| 1. | Aasia Bibi was accused of something she did not do because she was a Christian. | |
| 2. | Her trial was a travesty. | |
| 3. | The testimony of her accusers was perjured. | |
| 4. | Her accusers’ perjured testimony was weighted in favour of her accusers under the infamous sharia law because she was a Christian and her accusers were Muslim, and because she was a woman. | |
| 5. | Pakistan is close to being a failed state and its legal system is dominated, intimidated and brutalized by uncontrolled and uncontrollable Islamic mob rule. | |
| 6. | That mob rule has already murdered two people who spoke up for Aasia Bibi. | |
| 7. | Pakistan is in receipt of a great deal of money in the form of foreign aid. |
Pakistan must therefore be told in no uncertain terms that:
If Aasia Bibi is judicially murdered in the name of the Pakistani state, then that state will receive no more foreign aid from participating countries. This aid will terminate as soon as a hair on that blessed lady’s head is touched.
In furtherance of this, elected representatives must be told this:
| 1. | Aasia Bibi has been sentenced to death because she is a Christian and for no other reason. | |
| 2. | In Western Countries, being a Christian is not yet considered a crime. | |
| 3. | We are tax payers and voters. It is our tax money that is being given to Pakistan and last time we looked, we were not asked to vote for this. | |
| 4. | We will not vote for any representative, who continues to support financial aid to a totalitarian Islamo-fascist state like Pakistan and anyone who does should start to look around for a proper job after the next election. |
If you do not think that this will work, just tell them:
“I’m As Mad As Hell and I’m not going to Take This Any More”
May God bless you all.
Peter is an English expatriate who now lives in Thailand.
Previous posts:
| 2014 | Sep | 19 | Why I Left England’s Mean and Unpleasant Land | |||
| Oct | 5 | Pakistan I: The Blasphemy Laws | ||||
| 6 | Pakistan II: The Hudood Ordinances | |||||
| 13 | Bradistan: Importing a Culture Gap |
I’ve been following this case for some time. There is a book, ghost written by a foreign journalist who tells Asia Bibi’s story, which is available on Amazon Kindle. There are also many, many newspaper articles which tell this sorry tale.
If you write to your MP, please remember to cite authoritative sources as you do so, in order to lend weight to your appeal.
You could, for example, quote from the USCIRF 2014 annual report, which explains the dire situation in Pakistan. (Here is the link to the relevant webpage.)
Might I add that the English MP Edward Leigh has spoken out before now about making any foreign aid contingent upon the recipient behaving in a humane manner and freeing prisoners such as Asia Bibi. So if there is anyone in the UK in his constituency, I believe you might find a sympathetic ear if you write to Mr. Leigh.
Some more sources worth reading (or citing) if you want to write to your political representative – remember, they work for us!
Nina Shea’s testimony at the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
Nina Shea (writing for the Hudson Institute) – Why the US must oppose blasphemy laws – not just their abuse.
Knox Thames & Elisabeth Cassidy @ USCIRF – Pakistan leads the world in blasphemy prisoners.
Thomas Reese and Daniel Mark, Pakistan’s war on conscience, writing in the Philadelphia Enquirer.
There was a guy in our church years ago who worked for the World Bank and later contracted to the IMF. He mentioned the corruption in Pakistan with tears in his eyes over the unchecked suffering of the people. Corruption got so bad that these organs would only lend money to NGOs. So the Pakistani government set up its own NGOs to get around this! Donated money to the people of Pakistan may as well be burned IMHO.
Later I met a bloke who’d worked for an agency that was involved in bringing Braile books in for blind Pakistani children. The books were stolen and sold on the black market. What kind of man steals Braile books from poor blind children? He confronted the local man in charge of the operation. He had no idea what had had happened to the books. My friend wanted to use the phone to call the authorities, sorry the phones were dead. He picked a phone up anyway, it was working. Complaints were laid although I cannot recall the outcome.
Lastly, we sponsored a Pakistani child for some years after losing a son of our own and wanting to help someone else’s son in his place. Odd thing: every year we got a photo of our sponsored boy and every year he looked more surly and resentful, more angry. Looking back now of course I can see that he grew to bitterly resent the aid of the Christian kafir organisation that was helping him have a better life. His family were still happy to accept the money of course. This realisation is a major part of why I now mainly give to the Barnabas Fund – I know the money is going to go to oppressed Christians and not end up in the hands of thieves and oppressors.
Let’s do take the time to write to our representatives. Making this kind of injustice public is the best thing we can do right now.
“I’m as Mad As Hell and I’m Not Going to Take This Any More” – sounds like a version of Popeye’s usual response to Bluto’s bullying, “That’s all I can stands, cuz I can’t stands n’more!”, prior to the fistycuffs…
Umm, how exactly are we “not going to take this anymore”? If I had a stockpile of nukes in my cellar I’d know what to do with it. Those of us who don’t can either pray or throw tantrums, to both of which nobody listens. I’ve signed petitions before for jailed Christians in Iran and elsewhere that gathered million-strong support, yet it doesn’t move the Allah crowd one bit. That’s because we can’t get rid of the politically correct assumption that all men are equal and share equal basic values. But they aren’t and they don’t. Until we choose the right side for once and show them the hammer, they will continue as they please. They would do the same given half a chance.
It is disappointing that the letter parrots the – completely elastic – newspeak claim that Asia Bibi “insulted Mohammed”. Such a statement is empty of content. Moreover, when passing information on the case around through such a formulation, a Muslim will react automatically with condemnation of someone so accused, and a Non-Muslim PC person will automatically back off from defending Bibi once this phrase is introduced.
Therefore, no islam critic should ever use the expression “insult Mohammed” or “blasphemy” unqualified. The former expression is best avoided altogether (does it even make sense to speak of insulting a deceased person?) except when asking the only question relevant to thinking persons concerning it: How are we to define “insult” in such a case?
Remember how, during the cartoon crisis, the imams who toured the Middle East had to make their OWN cartoons and images because they considered the real ones from the Jyllands Posten too – inoffensive…
To create the insult, they were forced to actively deflect attention from the object claimed to BE the insult. The same is being done here, do not overlook it.
The thing to do is therefore to put a huge spotlight on Bibi’s OWN words – her message – not on the newspeak the thugs have veiled it behind.
It is referred here: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/september-web-only/asia-bibi-pakistan-blasphemy-im-afraid-shell-be-killed.html
The essence of the situation is: Her Muslim neighbours claimed that she, as an “unclean” Christian, contaminated the water by touching the common water vessel. They then tried to coerce her to convert. She refused, defending her Christian faith by these words:
“I BELIEVE IN MY RELIGION AND IN JESUS CHRIST, WHO DIED ON THE CROSS FOR THE SINS OF MANKIND. WHAT DID YOUR PROPHET MUHAMMAD EVER DO TO SAVE MANKIND?”
Questions that ought to be answered by Pakistan’s courts and government are:
1. What has Mohammed done to you? Has he made you so afraid of one woman’s question that she must die in order for you not to hear it?
2. Why did the Muslim neighbours not simply answer Bibi’s question? Why did not the courts simply answer it? Is it because it had no answer? Could they not think of any good thing that Mohammed has done for mankind?
6. WHY DID THEY CONSIDER A QUESTION ABOUT MOHAMMED’S GOOD DEEDS AN INSULT? How could they even conceivably consider it so?
A Christian would regard a similar question about Jesus as an opportunity for education, mission, telling the good news that Jesus brought.
7. What should the world conclude from this reaction on the part of Pakistan and its courts: that islam is utterly dependent on the absence of questions? Is this the message Pakistan wants to send about ISLAM to the world?
8. What is, in fact, more insulting to Mohammed: Asking what good he has done, or immediately taking steps to silence the question?
In short: Send to Pakistan – and to the whole world – Bibi’s OWN question. Send it again and again. She asked the exact right question that all the world should ask of all Muslims!
The question that the Muslims need to ANSWER.
Apparently the Muslims in Asia Bibi’s village “self radicalised” after she drank a glass of water on a hot day. Being asked a straightforward question about their religion then put them over the edge …
“Such a statement is empty of content.”
Yes, it is but it was not originally my statement. Your suggestion that we include in our protest letters the exact nature of Aasia’s “offense” and the question she asked these muslims is a good one and I will be doing this.
“Being asked a straightforward question about their religion then put them over the edge …”
I’d say it was simpler than that. The average muslim woman from a Pakistani village is extremely likely to be the product of inbreeding and not very bright as a result. In these circumstances. the very mention of the so-called prophet’s name by a Christian woman who had just “contaminated” their water supply by drinking from it drove them into the sort of religious frenzy reminiscient of the Salem Witch trials and they made up all sorts of fabricated accusations as a result. These were accepted by the authorities without question.
The only thing that will save Aasia Bibi now is the threat that Pakistan will receive no more foreign aid if she is executed and I suggest a boycott of Pakistan similar to that which is being perpetrated against the state of Israel by misguided do-gooders and Jew hating lefties.
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