Government says Aasia Bibi still in jail

KARACHI: Dismissing social media reports that Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman acquitted last week in a blasphemy case, had flown out of the country, Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said on Sunday that she was still lodged in prison.
“Fake news is being shared on social media. It was said that Aasia has left the country, which is fake news,” Chaudhry said while addressing a seminar in Karachi.
His statement confirmed comments by Saiful Malook, Bibi’s lawyer, before he left Pakistan, following the government’s deal with the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party to call off its three-day protests. Mulook, too, had said at the time that Bibi was still in jail.
Last Wednesday, the Supreme Court said it found Bibi not guilty, citing a lack of evidence in her case. The decision, however, prompted countrywide protests by the TLP, a far-right Islamist group. The protests, which had also turned violent in some areas, compelled the government to strike a deal with the protestors.
In the five-point agreement, which Chaudhry termed as a temporary measure on Sunday, the government agreed to initiate the legal process to place Bibi on the country’s Exit Control List to ensure she doesn’t fly out of the country, while promising to set all protesters free and not block a petition seeking a review of the verdict.
Chaudhry, however, clarified that those protestors found guilty of damaging public or private properties would not be released. “They have committed rebellion by speaking against the judges and army besides taking law into their hands, so they have to face the music,” Chaudhry told reporters.
The state will never forget the miscreants, he said. “This is not an issue of religion but rebellion against the state and rebellion cannot be ignored. The misconception that the state will forgive them should be removed,” he said, adding that the government would soon take steps to do away with the perception that it had surrendered to the demands of a religious party and was therefore “weak.”