The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking review of the top court’s verdict of acquitting Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman who spent eight years on death row in a blasphemy case.
The petitioner was not able to point out any mistake in the SC verdict acquitting Aasia Bibi, said the Chief Justice of Pakistan.
After her release from Multan’s women prison on November 7 last year, Aasia Bibi was flown to Islamabad onboard a special aircraft. She was then taken to an undisclosed place amid tight security. Authorities have remained tight-lipped about her movement and whereabouts for security reasons, reported the Dawn.
According to the report, as the hearing started at 1pm, 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.
Giving details about the court room discussions the report added, “How is this a matter of religion?” asked the CJP. “Has the verdict not been given on merit?”
“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 verdict did not take into account some views [of the witnesses’ testimonies],” argued the lawyer. “If a testimony isn’t further examined [by the lawyers], it is understood to be true.”
“You should talk on the merits [of the verdict],” the top judge remarked.
“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.
“First tell us where the testimony was read incorrectly [by the court]. What Islam says about it will be discussed later.
“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 Aasia 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.
