Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi, 45, who was sentenced to death for alleged blasphemy against Islam in 2010 and acquitted by the Supreme Court last October, has been granted asylum in Canada.
Bibi’s counsel Saiful Malook and Pakistan’s Foreign Office (FO) sources confirmed her departure for Canada, according to Express Tribune.
A poor farm worker and mother of two children from a village near Sheikhupura in Pakistani Punjab, Bibi was accused of blasphemy by fellow two Muslim farm women after she had an argument with them over drinking water from the same pot which the Muslimwomen used in 2009. All the women were working in fields at that time.
Since most Christians in Pakistan are converts from lower castes and thus considered untouchables, the two Muslim women were furious when Asia drank water from the same pot. They falsely accused her of blaspheming Islam. As a result, Asia Bibi was given death by hanging by the local court in 2010. The sentence was later confirmed by the Lahore High Court.
Her case made international headlines and led to the assassination of then Pakistan Punjab state Governor Salmaan Taseer who pleaded for her retrial. Taseer was gunned down by his bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri in January 2011.
The Pakistan Supreme Court acquitted Asia Bibi in October 2018 and asked authorities to free her. But the verdict led to large-scale rioting by hardline Muslims, calling for her killing. Bibi and her family were shifted to undisclosed location as international calls grew for granting her asylum in western countries.
Prime Minister Trudeau had said in November last year that Canada was ready to give asylum to Asia Bibi. “We are in discussions with the Pakistani government,” Trudeau had said.
It is not known if her husband Ashiq Masih, who worked as a brick kiln labourer, has also accompanied her. Bibi have two daughters with Masih who also has three children from his previous marriage.
Well done, Canada!
Asia Bibi is the kind of people Canada must grant asylum.
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