Justice is not for Muslims alone, Pakistan’s top judge says

Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar. (REUTERS)

• Supreme Court cannot punish people without adequate evidence, Justice Nisar says
• Follows verdict in controversial case of Aasia Bibi who was acquitted a day earlier

ISLAMABAD: Reacting to country wide protestors’ demands to overturn the verdict passed in the case of Aasia Bibi, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said on Thursday that it was not possible for the Supreme Court to punish people based on insufficient evidence.
His comment came hot on the heels of a judgement issued by the country’s top court on Wednesday, which overturned Bibi’s death sentence and ordered her immediate release from prison after eight years.
Bibi, a 51-year-old Christian woman and mother of five, was convicted of blasphemy after she got into an argument with a few Muslim women who allegedly expressed their displeasure at her touching their glass of water. The incident took place in June 2009. A lower court handed her the capital punishment soon after accepting the prosecution’s claim that she had made derogatory remarks about Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during the altercation.
Reasoning that the prosecution had “categorically failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt”, the Supreme Court overruled the judgement on Wednesday, setting Bibi free. The decision did not go down well with some Islamist factions in the country, with one of them, Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP), publicly criticizing the judges and making inflammatory statements against them and other government functionaries.
As people poured onto the streets and minor clashes took place in different parts of the country, Justice Nisar, while hearing another case, said on Thursday: “We are ready to sacrifice our lives for the Prophet. But we are not just here as judges for Muslims. How can we punish anyone without adequate proof against them?” He also wondered if everyone in Pakistan would be required to prove their faith.
Amid increasing tension and threats of violence, Bibi’s brother, James Masih, told the Associated Press that his sister was not safe in Pakistan and was going to leave the country once she was released from an undisclosed location where she has been kept for security reasons.
In his brief but powerful address to the nation, Prime Minister Imran Khan warned the agitators and miscreants not to create a situation where the state would have to deal with them with an iron hand.