With contempt for basic human rights and universal morality, the Pakistani security agencies are intercepting and withholding the sympathy letters for Asia Bibi, condemned in blasphemy case, from heads of churches and international human rights organizations from all over the world.
The security agencies sleuths have so for intercepted hundreds of sympathy letters addressed to Asia Bibi incarcerated in District Jail Sheikhupura in Central Punjab.
According to sources in District Jail Sheikhupura, a lot of Christian community organizations and heads of churches abroad have been posting these letters as a token of solidarity for Asia Bibi. But, the sources said, these letters are being regularly intercepted and monitored by the officials of security agencies at Pakistan’s post offices, particularly in district Sheikhupura.
“As many as 51 sympathy letters from the US and 13 from Canada were received for Asia Bibi on January 13, 2011 alone,” sources said, adding that similar letters were also received from the USA and Britain on January 15, 2011. All these letters are being regularly intercepted by security agencies of Pakistan. The sources further said that none of the letters is shared with the addressee – Asiya Bibi.
One such letter addressed to Asia Bibi by Amazing Grace Church in Canada, the copy of which is in the possession of Viewpoint, has been sent by (Rev.) Bart Velthulzen. It reads; “We have heard about your situation and the injustices you are experiencing. We are praying for you and your family. We have also written to our Canadian government to speak to the Pakistan government about your situation. May our Lord Jesus Christ, for whom you are suffering, give you encouragement and protection in these difficult times.”
The current Pakistani government is cognizant of the international pressure as well as the mounting pressure of the religious fanatics. The extremists are forcing the country’s legislators to refrain from introducing any amendment(s) in this law.
The Islamists have warned the government not to touch the country’s blasphemy laws or to pardon a Christian woman on death row for allegedly blaspheming the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). The case of Asia Bibi has triggered considerable debate in overwhelmingly-Muslim Pakistan, where the federal government has been unwilling or unable to confront hard-line elements such as the fundamentalist clerics.
Naeem Shakir, a Pakistan Supreme Court advocate and human rights activist, argued that the state had reached a “defining moment” and must decide whether it would allow citizens freedom of religion or not. “The impression spread by the clergy that the country’s blasphemy law is divinely ordained and cannot be discussed must be dispelled,” he says.
Renowned human rights activist and Secretary General of Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), I. A. Rehman, says that the act of the securities agencies to intercept sympathy letters pouring in from the world around for Asiya Bibi violates one of the basic human rights. “We have been campaigning for the rule of law in the country. We are going to write to the government about this human rights violation,” I. A. Rehman said while talking to the Viewpoint. He said that it was sheer intrusion into the privacy of a person and they would also write to the Supreme Court of Pakistan to look into the matter immediately.
Asia Bibi, a 45 year-old mother, was sentenced to death by hanging on November 8 last year, 17 months after her arrest on allegations that she had insulted Islam’s prophet. She denied the claim, saying she had been falsely accused by Muslim co-workers who objected to sharing a water bowl with a Christian.
A number of Pakistanis accused of blasphemy have been killed by mobs or individuals angered by the alleged offense - including in some cases while the person was in court or in custody, supposedly under state protection.
Ghulam Haider