The troubled history of Pakistan’s blasphemy law

Asia Bibi’s story might finally have a happy ending but many in Pakistan still live in fear of being accused of blasphemy, a ‘kiss of death’ that guarantees a life of unrelenting violence and persecution. Alia Shoaib reports

Friday 04 September 2020 14:42 BST
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The Pakistan Christian Democratic alliance marching in support of Asia Bibi in 2010
The Pakistan Christian Democratic alliance marching in support of Asia Bibi in 2010

On 4 January 2011 Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Punjab in Pakistan, was walking through Kohsar Market in Islamabad when he was shot 27 times by one of his own bodyguards, Mumtaz Qadri.​ Qadri then calmly handed himself in to his colleagues, and as press arrived smilingly told the cameras that he had killed Taseer because he was a blasphemer.

Taseer’s crime had been advocating for clemency for Asia Bibi, a Christian farm labourer who had been accused of blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad after a squabble with her Muslim neighbours. Under Pakistan Penal Code, the crime carries a mandatory death sentence.

Frenzy around the blasphemy law means that even those who question it, like Taseer, are labelled as blasphemous. Although the blasphemy law has long been a flashpoint in Pakistan, Bibi’s case sparked international outcry, with world figures, including the Pope, calling for her release.

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