Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Wednesday said the National Assembly and other institutions of the country should stand with the Supreme Court vis-à-vis its decision to acquit Asia Bibi in the blasphemy case.

The Supreme Court is our national institution. The National Assembly along with all other state institutions should stand with it, he said while speaking to reporters here, adding that the country cannot be run from the streets. Pakistan can only be run according to the constitution and the law. I am waiting for the day when the country is run through the rule of law and not threats,” he added.

PPPP Secretary General Farhatullah Babar commended the apex court judges for ‘refusing to be cowed down’ over the Asia Bibi case. “The decision has lit a candle in darkness and raises hopes in hopelessness. Also spare a thought for Shaheed Salmaan Taseer who raised voice for her and paid with his life for it, he added.

PPP Senator Sherry Rehman termed the acquittal of Asia Bibi a ‘landmark judgment’ and urged the state to protect those who stand for the rule of law and justice. “False accusers took half her life away. We have all been witness to the havoc mobs have wreaked to red lines before. That line must be held, she said in a tweet.

International rights organization Amnesty International’s South Asia Deputy Director Omar Waraich said the verdict must make it clear that blasphemy laws will no longer be abused in Pakistan. This is a landmark verdict,” he said. “For the past eight years, Asia Bibi’s life languished in limbo. The message must go out that the blasphemy laws will no longer be used to persecute the country’s most vulnerable minorities,” he added.

Activist and lawyer Jibran Nasir called for reforms to prevent abuse of religious laws to victimize the innocent. Prayers for wellbeing of Asia Bibi and her family. Today’s verdict once again highlights need for reforms to prevent abuse of religious laws to victimize the innocent. The same reforms which Salmaan Taseer advocated for and was martyred for. That is the only way forward, he said in a statement.

Published in Daily Times, November 1^st 2018.