Arif Ali—AFP
Analysts say silence from media, government suggests Islamabad wants to avoid any kind of reaction from violent mobs
After 10 years of political turmoil, assassinations and violent demonstrations, Aasia Bibi’s exit from Pakistan was met largely with silence, as the country appeared to seek a quiet close to a turbulent chapter.
Even as the Christian woman’s flight to safety in Canada made international headlines on Wednesday, Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government said nothing. It was left to a foreign ministry spokesman to confirm her departure on Thursday, with Mohammad Faisal telling journalists Bibi had left the country “at her own will” as he declined to say anything further.
The silence echoed across the country’s usually rambunctious media, with most newspapers glossing over the episode and primetime television shows offering it only a passing mention.
It was a jarring contrast to the violent protests staged by hardliners against Bibi in recent years, including last October, when the Supreme Court overturned her death sentence for blasphemy. Islamists took to the streets at the time calling for mutiny in the armed forces and the assassination of the country’s top judges.
“The government clearly doesn’t want there to be a reaction from violent mobs,” said Omar Waraich, deputy South Asia director at Amnesty International. “They are worried that they will be accused of being part of what some hardliners call a Western conspiracy against Islam to punish those who stand up for Islam’s Prophet, and protect those accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet.”
Many of the protest ringleaders were rounded up in a government crackdown and remain in detention—a possible reason why Bibi’s flight to freedom after months spent in protective custody in Pakistan did not ignite further demonstrations.
Bibi was first convicted and sentenced to death for committing blasphemy during an altercation with fellow laborers in 2009. Her case was taken up by liberal provincial governor Salmaan Taseer, who was later killed in broad daylight in Islamabad in 2011 by his own bodyguard, angered by Taseer’s stance on blasphemy.
The killing was followed the same year by the assassination of minority affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti, a Christian, who had also fought to clear Bibi’s name.
The years-long debacle underscored the depth with which religious extremism has cut across wide sections of Pakistani society and how the country’s blasphemy laws have been effectively weaponized by Islamists.
Blasphemy continues to be a massively incendiary charge in Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam can spark lynchings and targeted killings.
Christians met the news of Bibi’s departure with mixed emotions—with many expressing happiness that she was free, while acknowledging that staying in the country would have likely meant a violent death at the hands of vigilantes. “It was problem for her to live here. It is obvious that she might be killed by the people. We think it is good that she has been sent [to Canada],” said Fayyaz Bhatti, a Pakistani Christian in Islamabad. “Now her life is saved and she can meet her children.”