Islamabad: The Pakistan Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking review of the top court’s verdict acquitting Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in a blasphemy case.
Acquitting Bibi, the Supreme Court said the petitioner was not able to point out any mistake in the October 31, 2018 verdict acquitting her, Dawn reported.
After her release from Multan’s women prison on November 7 last year, Asia Bibi was flown to Islamabad onboard a special aircraft. She was taken to an undisclosed location amid tight security.
As the hearing started, petitioner Qari Muhammad Salaam’s lawyer Ghulam Ikram presented his arguments before a three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel. The lawyer had demanded that a larger bench be made for the review petition, saying it should include Islamic scholars and ulama.
“The verdict was given on the basis of testimonies; does Islam say that one should be punished even if they are found not guilty?
“Prove to us what [you believe] is wrong with the verdict,” said Chief Justice Khosa.When the lawyer pointed to the verdict mentioning “burden of proof” being on the petitioner, the judge asked: “Do you disagree with this rule?”
“The beauty of a Muslim community is that non-Muslims are taken care of,” said the CJP, addressing the lawyer. “First talk about the merit and tell us where the flaw is.”Islam says that a testimony should be true even if it incriminates a person’s own loved ones. If we have not read the testimony correctly, we will rectify it immediately,” said the Chief Justice.
The allegations against Bibi were made in June 2009 when she was labouring in a field and a row broke out with some Muslim women she was working with.She was asked to fetch water, but the Muslim women objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl. A few days later the women went to a local cleric and put forward the blasphemy allegations.
The administration had made stringent security arrangements, including the deployment of paramilitary troops in Islamabad’s sensitive areas, ahead of the hearing.The review petition filed by Qari Muhammad Salaam pleads with the apex court to maintain the capital punishment awarded by the trial court to Asia Bibi. (ANI)
