ISLAMABAD: Asia Bibi, the Christian woman whose acquittal was upheld this week in a blasphemy saga which has made her a prime target for vigilantes, is still in Pakistan, the foreign ministry said Thursday.
As Islamist extremists announced fresh protests demanding her execution, officials said she was free to go abroad, with speculation rampant that she will seek asylum in Europe or North America.
Bibi, a laborer from central Punjab province, was convicted of blasphemy in 2010 and was on death row until her acquittal last year.
Her case swiftly became the most infamous in Pakistan, drawing worldwide attention to religious extremism in the country where blasphemy is an incendiary issue.
Since her acquittal, she has been in protective custody, with authorities refusing to reveal her whereabouts out of fear for her safety.
On Tuesday the Supreme Court cleared the final legal hurdle in her case, throwing out a petition seeking an appeal against her acquittal.
The decision spurred calls for protests from extremists who have demanded Bibi’s hanging and set the stage for her to leave the country. Her daughters are believed to have already fled to Canada.
“To the best of my knowledge, Asia Bibi is still in Pakistan,” foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Faisal told reporters in Islamabad during a weekly press briefing.
“She is a free citizen. If she wants to live in Pakistan, she can live in Pakistan. If she wants to go abroad she can go. This is her wish and there is no restriction on her,” he continued.
Even unproven accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan have caused lynchings and murders.
Two politicians have been assassinated in connection with Bibi’s case, and she spent much of her time in prison in solitary confinement for fear she could be attacked by a guard or another prisoner.
Islamists groups regularly call for her hanging, and her acquittal last October sparked days of violent demonstrations.
Activists have warned that her life is in danger if she remains in Pakistan.
Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), the Islamist group which led protests after Bibi’s acquittal, has called for nationwide protests demanding Bibi’s execution on Friday.
The group also called protests for Wednesday, after the Supreme Court’s decision was announced, but small rallies in some cities fizzled out amid a heavy police presence.
TLP’s leaders — who paralyzed the capital Islamabad for weeks in 2017 with an anti-blasphemy sit-in — were rounded up in a government crackdown weeks ago and remain in detention.
Many blasphemy cases in Pakistan see Muslims accusing Muslims, and rights activists say charges under the colonial-era legislation are frequently used to settle personal scores.
Minorities — particularly Christians — are often caught in the crossfire, while mere calls to reform the laws have also provoked violence.
Asia Bibi still in Pakistan, but free to go — foreign office
Asia Bibi still in Pakistan, but free to go — foreign office
- There is no restriction on her, says Dr. Mohammad Faisal
- On Tuesday the Supreme Court cleared the final legal hurdle in her case, throwing out a petition seeking an appeal against her acquittal
Air pollution cuts average Pakistani life expectancy by 3.9 years — report
- Pakistan’s first city-level emissions mapping links smog to transport and industry
- Lahore residents could gain up to 5.8 years of life with cleaner air, report says
ISLAMABAD: Air pollution is shortening the lives of millions of Pakistanis, reducing average life expectancy by almost four years and up to six years in smog-choked cities like Lahore, according to a new national assessment.
The study, titled Unveiling Pakistan’s Air Pollution and published by the Pakistan Air Quality Initiative (PAQI) this week, includes Pakistan’s first multi-sector, city-level emissions mapping, ending years of speculation over what drives the country’s chronic smog.
Researchers identified transport, industry, brick kilns, power generation and crop burning as Pakistan’s largest contributors of PM2.5, which is hazardous fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers wide that penetrates deep into the lungs and bloodstream, increasing the risk of heart disease, lung cancer and early death. The dominant sources varied by city, giving a data-based picture of pollution patterns for the first time.
The report calls particulate pollution the country’s most damaging environmental hazard.
“Pollution reduces the life expectancy of an average Pakistani by 3.9 years,” the report states, noting the impact is more severe than food insecurity.
“Particulate pollution is the greatest external threat to life expectancy in the country. While particulate pollution takes 3.3 years off the life expectancy of an average Pakistani resident, child and maternal malnutrition, and dietary risks reduce life expectancy by 2.4 and 2.1 years, respectively.”
The report findings suggest major health gains would follow even modest pollution cuts.
“In Lahore, the country’s second most populous city, residents could gain 5.8 years of life expectancy,” it notes, if air quality met global safety standards.
Beyond health, the study frames smog as an economic and governance crisis. Researchers argue that Pakistan’s response has focused on optics like temporary shutdowns, anti-smog “sprays” and road-washing rather than long-term emissions control, vehicle regulation or industrial monitoring.
The assessment characterises pollution as an invisible national burden:
“Poor air quality is Pakistan’s most universal tax, paid by every child and elder with every breath.”
Pakistan regularly ranks among the world’s most polluted countries, with Lahore, Karachi, Peshawar and Faisalabad repeatedly classified as high-toxicity zones during winter. The new mapping highlights how industrial output, diesel trucking, unregulated kiln firing, and seasonal stubble burning drive smog cycles, knowledge the authors say should guide enforceable policy rather than short-term bans.
The report concludes that reducing PM2.5 remains the single most powerful health intervention available to Pakistan, with improvements likely to deliver life expectancy gains faster than nutrition, sanitation or infectious-disease efforts.
