ISLAMABAD: Stressing on the fact that Pakistan’s government had very few legal and political options to deal with protestors seeking a reversal of the Supreme Court’s verdict acquitting a Christian woman, Aasia Bibi, in a blasphemy case, experts said on Friday that the best way forward would be to resolve the issue through dialogue.
Sharafat Ali, a Supreme Court senior advocate, told Arab News that the government is not a complainant in the blasphemy case and therefore it can do little to “legally meet any requirements of the protesters”.
Bibi, a 51-year-old woman and a mother of five, was accused of blasphemy in 2009 in Sheikhupura and was awarded the death sentence by the lower courts. She had been in prison ever since. The country’s top court on Wednesday acquitted Bibi of blasphemy charges, reasoning that the prosecution had categorically failed to prove its case.
Shortly after the verdict, activists of a far-right religious party, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) took to the streets in all major cities of the country, including Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, and blocked the main arteries, thereby disrupting public life. They have also been accused of inciting followers through fiery speeches against members of the army and the judges who passed the verdict.
Ali said that the government should have charged the leaders of the protesting parties with “treason”, specifically the TLP’s wheelchair-bound leader, cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, and his associates, for the incitement against state institutions.
“If the government fails to register cases against some key clerics leading the protests under incitement and treason charges, this will further embolden the extremists,” he said.
Talking to media persons outside the Parliament House on Friday, Minister of State for Interior Shehryar Afridi said that the government was negotiating with the party leaders and “there will soon be a positive progress.”
He, however, categorically said that the government will not use force to disperse protesters. “We don’t want any bloodshed,” he said.
Tahir Malik, an academic and a political analyst, said the government is caught in a catch-22 situation as protesters have refused to back down from their demand under the verdict was reversed.
“Dialogue seems to be the only option to resolve the issue peacefully,” he told Arab News.
“If the government uses force against protesters, a considerable segment of the society can move against the authorities and further complicate the issue,” he said.
Malik said that there is a need to devise a long-term strategy to de-radicalize the society through the teachings of Islam. “Entire political leadership should join hands to ostracize extremists and ideology of extremism in the society,” he added.
Government caught between a rock and a hard place with ongoing protests
Government caught between a rock and a hard place with ongoing protests
- Seeks to resolve issue amicably, even as demands for death continue for Christian woman
- Lawyers urge authorities to charge protest leaders with incitement of violence and treason
Pakistan FM discusses regional situation with Saudi counterpart, urges restraint and dialogue
- This is the second time the two foreign ministers have spoken since the Arab Coalition targeted weapon shipments on Yemen’s Mukalla port
- Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has invited factions in south Yemen to hold a dialogue in Riyadh to ‘discuss just solutions to southern cause’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, discussed the regional situation with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, and called for restraint and dialogue to resolve issues, the Pakistani foreign office said late Friday, amid tensions prevailing over Yemen.
This is the second time the two foreign ministers have spoken this week since the Saudi Arabia-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen carried out a “limited” airstrike on Dec. 30, targeting two shipments of smuggled weapons and military equipment sent from the Emirati port of Fujairah to Mukalla in southern Yemen.
A coalition forces spokesperson said the weapons were meant to support the Southern Transitional Council (STC) forces, backed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), in Yemen’s Hadramaut and Al-Mahra “with the aim of fueling the conflict.” The UAE has since announced withdrawal of its remaining troops from Yemen, rejecting any actions that could threaten the Kingdom or undermine regional stability.
In their telephonic conversation late Friday, the Pakistani and Saudi foreign ministers discussed the latest situation in the region, according to the Pakistani foreign office.
“FM [Dar] stressed that all concerned in the region must avoid any escalatory move and advised to resolve the issues through dialogue and diplomacy for the sake of regional peace and stability,” it added.
Separately, Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry invited factions in south Yemen to hold a dialogue in Riyadh to “discuss just solutions to the southern cause.”
The ministry statement said the conference in the Saudi capital had been requested by Rashad Al-Alimi, President of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, and the Kingdom urged all factions to participate “to develop a comprehensive vision” that would fulfill the aspirations of the southern people.
Disregarding previous agreements with the Arab Coalition, the STC separatist group launched a sweeping military campaign early in December, seizing the governorates of Hadramaut along the Saudi border and the eastern governorate of Al-Mahra in Yemen’s border with Oman. It also took control of the strategic PetroMasila oilfields, which account for a massive portion of Yemen’s remaining oil wealth.
The advance has raised the spectre of the return of South Yemen, a separate state from 1967 to 1990, while dealing a hammer-blow to slow-moving peace negotiations with Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Saudi Arabia said the STC action poses a direct threat to the Kingdom’s national security, and regional stability. The Kingdom has reiterated the only way to bring the southern cause to a resolution is through dialogue.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s foreign office expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to the Kingdom’s security, amid rising tensions in Yemen.
“Pakistan expresses complete solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and reaffirms its commitment to security of the Kingdom,” Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi told reporters at a weekly news briefing.
“Pakistan maintains its firm support for the resolution of Yemen issue through dialogue and diplomacy and hopes that Yemen’s people and regional powers work together toward inclusive and enduring settlement of the issue, safeguarding regional stability.”
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed a landmark defense pact in September last year, according to which aggression against one country will be treated as an attack against both. The pact signaled a push by both governments to formalize long-standing military ties into a binding security commitment.
