Asia Bibi’s memoirs published in Denmark lead to Interview with Juliet Chowdhry

A Danish Christian newspaper was shown the realities of the blasphemy laws of Pakistan, when interviewing Juliet Chowdhry from British Asian Christian Association,  at the launch of a Danish translation of Asia Bibi’s memoirs.

Asia Bibi was wrongfully arrested and convicted of a blasphemy n 2009 the same year as the British Asian Christian Association was formed  (click here).

The Danish article can be read (here) but requires a subscription, and opens by describing the some of the awful torture Asia Bibi suffered, through an extract from the memoirs.

“My wrists are burning and I am having a hard time breathing. An iron ring, which the prison guard can tighten at will, squeezes around my neck, which my youngest daughter usually holds on with her small arms. A long chain connects my neck with the handcuffs around the prison guard’s wrist. The chain drags across the dirty floor and he pulls at it as if it were a dog leash. Deep down, I feel the fear pull me down towards the darkness of hell. A constant anxiety that never goes away. ”  (A translation taken from Google of the first paragraph of the article).

In the article a quote from Juliet set the scene for the current situation in Pakistan, its reads:

“Asia Bibi’s freedom after the brutal incarceration is a great joy for us, and the contacts we have with her confirm that she is doing well in Canada. Her testimony has helped raise awareness about the dangerous blasphemy laws in Pakistan. “The number of blasphemy cases against Christians has been fairly constant with two or three new cases a year, and that in itself is alarming. But after a fall in 2020 during the corona pandemic, the number has now increased significantly with six new charges in the first eight months of the year.” 

Of course we do not want to re-write the whole of the article for everyone, but Juliet contributed a lot describing in details the torrid situation faced by Christians in Pakistan.

The article is extremely well written and we would encourage our Danish supporters to read and share the article.  However, do let us know if you are a Danish supporter so we can decide whether or not to add Danish to our growing list of languages for post translations.

British Asian Christian Association, was one of the few charities that helped with the release of Asia Bibi from her 9 year long incarceration for a falsely alleged blasphemy (click here). We were also very involved in the international dialogue calling for her freedom (click here).  If you are moved by this story and want to support our work you can donate (here).

Below we share some of the Pakistan Blasphemy law responses submitted by Juliet Chowdhry to the Danish Newspaper reporter:

The liberation of Asia Bibi was a major victory for human rights. But how has the situation with regard to freedom of religion evolved since then?

We are still rejoice over the release of Asia Bibi which we were very much a part of and thank God for her exit from a very brutal incarceration.  Our prayers for her remain as strong as when she was still suffering in Pakistan. Our recent talks with Asia Bibi whilst she has been residing in Canada suggest she is settling down very well and we thank God for her life and testimony, which has raised the profile of the dangers associated with the draconian of blasphemy laws in Pakistan.

Little has changed in my former homeland, in many ways things have worsened.  Up until this year Asia Bibi held the record for the longest term of imprisonment for any blasphemy convict.  Now Zafar Bhatti an elderly man with a wife who is in very poor health, has been refused bail and his appeal against his conviction has been denied.

 Read more (here) 

Sadly, this refusal means he will soon cross a decade of incarceration making him the longest serving blasphemy victim in Pakistan’s torturous history.

Particularly with regard to the use of the blasphemy law: is there a decrease or an increase  in the number of cases ? And what could explain either of these directions?

Still working on this response. I will have it to you in about an hour.

No, the religious hatred exists irrespective of Asia Bibi who many extremists have now forgotten about.  Probably because they don’t want to be reminded of their failure to have her hanged or because they do not want to be heckled by their supporters because she escaped their clutches. Hatred for Christians in Pakistan was never because of Asia Bibi but because of years of inculcation of anti-Christian propaganda, even though the nation has been relying on foreign aid from the ostensibly Christian nations of Great Britain and the US for years.

Which are the major cases of concern to you right now? 

Two recent stories relating to Christian nurses highlight that no Christian is safe.  The fact that even nurses who have been helping during the COVID-19 pandemic and have no doubt saved countless lives is heart-breaking and illustrates a sense of the them and us status in Pakistan, where Kaffir (non-Muslims) are increasingly seen as the enemy. In one of the recent cases two nurses boycotted shifts at a COVID-19 ward, after they argued that Muslim nurses should also work on these high risk wards.  In response the furious Muslim Head Nurse accused them of blasphemy when they removed some bacteria-infested stickers from some cupboards that apparently had Islamic inscriptions, causing them to be beaten and almost lynched by other Muslim colleagues. The two women are still in jail and are fighting for their freedom.

Read more (here) 

In a separate case Nurse Tabeeta a famed Gospel singer, who was almost burnt alive after attempts to coerce her into signing a false confession of blasphemy. Her life was spared after a few brave Muslim colleagues who spoke out on her behalf.  One sharing a very public video calling for greater introspection amongst the Muslims of Pakistan illustrating what British Asian Christian Association has always said, that not all Muslim’s in Pakistan are intolerant. Her beautiful words have been a real inspiration to the Christians of Pakistan.

 Read more (here)

Nurse Tabeeta has now escaped Pakistan to another country after police dropped the charges.  In both the cases above Police took no action against the perpetrators of violence towards the assaulted nurses.

We also share details of our chagrin in the case of Nabeel Masih who we have released from jail on bail. He was only 16 years old when convicted and was kept in jail for four years despite never being convicted.  Though there has never been any strong evidence that he has committed a blasphemy a mixture of Judge vacations and numerous lawyer strikes, have meant we are being delayed in his acquittal. Worse still despite the threat to his life not one nation has offered asylum to this young man who is easily recognized across Pakistan.  We fear for his safety once he is acquitted and hope your article might cause an offer of asylum.

The Vatican has expressed concern that the victory of the Taliban might fuel extremism in other countries in the region, including against Christians. What is your vision of this? 

We have been supporting many converts from Islam to Christianity or atheism in the UK with relocations to safe houses, or on other occasions establishing links with afghan, Iranian or Indo-Pak churches in near their residences so they could attend to improve their Biblical erudition and fellowship.  One of them recently shared their thoughts about the safety of Christians remaining in Afghanistan, he stated that most Christians wanted to stay in their homeland to ensure that the Gospel would still be available to those who were seeking God.  He also explained that unless the Taliban changes the Koran or the teachings of the Hadith there was no way they would be able to become more tolerant and create a free modern society.

Read more (here)

On that basis, I would have to agree with the Vatican.  The Taliban follow the most radical forms of Islam – Wahhabism and the Deobandi movement. Deobandi followers in Pakistan have increased since the migration of Afghans during their recent wars and have been involved in the destruction of many religious shrines belonging to Shia’s, Sunni and Sufi Muslims who they see as enervators or those who water down the Islamic faith. The Taliban in Afghanistan destroyed the famed Bamiyan buddhas in 2001 during a rampage in 2001.

Read more (here)

The terrorism we see across the globe and rise of other extremists groups such as IS and Al Qaeda is rooted in  the intolerance taught towards other faiths in Wahhabism.  If people think Pakistani national curriculum textbooks are bad they should read some of the Saudi Textbooks that are taught in Taliban schools. One Muslim commentator described the text as follows:

“Well, here, this is a book, hadif, for ninth grade. Hadif is a statement of Prophet Mohammed. This is a book that start for ninth graders. This is talking about the victory of Muslims over Jews. This is a hadif  that I truly believe it’s not true, as a Muslim:

 “The day of judgment will not arrive until Muslims fight Jews, and Muslim will kill Jews until the Jew hides behind a tree or a stone. Then the tree and the stone will say, ‘Oh Muslim, oh, servant of God, this is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.’ Except one type of a tree, which is a Jew tree. That will not say that.”

“This is taught for 14-year-old boys in Saudi Arabia.”

Read more (here) 

Taliban schools will teach such intolerance to their next generation leading to the type of fundamentalism that results in the export of terrorism.

Over the years the Taliban have established close links with Al Qaeda and IS, it is inevitable that their shared religious views will only enhance this relationship.

With the Taliban now in control of Afghanistan the nation seems to be heading in an inexorable trajectory towards becoming a base for extremism and terrorism.  This will no doubt be exacerbated by the understandable desire by western nations to not provide foreign aid or support to a Talibanized Afghanistan.