ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani Christian woman who was exonerated in a blasphemy case after spending eight years on death row and set free by the Supreme Court on Tuesday is all set to fly to Canada to join her two daughters there, her lawyer said on Wednesday.
The apex court upheld the October acquittal of Aasia Bibi, 54, in a landmark blasphemy case, clearing the final legal obstacle in her path to freedom and allowing her to seek asylum in a country of her choice.
“She will fly to Canada very soon to join her daughters who are already there. Yes, Canada has offered them the asylum,” Saiful Malook, who pleaded Bibi’s case in the court, told Arab News on Wednesday.
Bibi’s two daughters were secretly flown out to Canada earlier this month after accepting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's offer for asylum.
In November last year, Trudeau said that his government was engaging with Pakistani authorities over Bibi's case. “We are in discussions with the Pakistani government,” he said.
“There is a delicate domestic context that we respect which is why I don’t want to say any more about that, but I will remind people that Canada is a welcoming country,” Trudeau said.
Shortly after the dismissal of a review petition -- which had sought that a death sentence awarded by a lower court to Bibi be upheld -- dozens of activists of the ultra-Islamist Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party held protests in different cities of the country, including Karachi, Hyderabad, and Lahore.
They demanded that the government must “hang Aasia Bibi for defaming Prophet Muhammad [PBUH].” The law enforcement agencies, however, moved quickly and arrested scores of protesters to restore law and order.
Aasia Bibi to join her daughters in Canada “very soon” – lawyer
Aasia Bibi to join her daughters in Canada “very soon” – lawyer
- Duo had flown to Ottawa earlier this month
- Country has offered asylum to Pakistani Christian woman and her family
Pakistan military says 12 militants killed in counter-terror operations in southwest
- Pakistan military says “Indian-sponsored terrorists” were killed in southwestern Kalat district on Dec. 6
- Development takes place day after military said it gunned down five militants in Balochistan’s Dera Bugti area
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security forces killed 12 “Indian-sponsored terrorists” in the southwestern Balochistan province, the military’s media wing said on Sunday, vowing to purge “terrorism” from the country.
The security operation was carried out in Balochistan’s Kalat district on Dec. 6, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement. It said the militants belonged to Indian proxy “Fitna al Hindustan.”
The military uses this term to describe ethnic Baloch militant groups who demand independence from Pakistan. Islamabad accuses New Delhi of arming and funding these separatist groups, charges India has always denied.
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from the terrorists, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities in the area,” the ISPR said.
The military said that it was carrying out sanitization operations in the area to eliminate other “terrorists,” vowing it will continue with its relentless counter-terror campaign to purge militancy.
The development took place a day after the Pakistan military said it had gunned down 14 militants in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Balochistan provinces.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by since yet its most backward by almost all social and economic indicators, has suffered from a bloody separatist insurgency for decades.
The most ethnic Baloch militant group that has mounted attacks against law enforcement and civilians in the area is the Balochistan Liberation Army.
These militant outfits accuse the military and federal government of denying the local Baloch population a share in the province’s mineral wealth, charges Islamabad denies.
