‘Kafirs’ Unwelcome: Lawyer Of Christian Woman Acquitted Of Blasphemy Flees Pakistan, Fearing Rabid Islamists

The Pakistani lawyer who helped a Christian woman overturn her death sentence for blasphemy said that he had left Pakistan in fear of his life, after Bibi's acquittal and subsequent protests by rabid Islamists, reports Reuters.

An ultra-Islamist outfit, Tehreek-e-Labaik (TLP), had called for the assassination of the Supreme Court judges who acquitted Asia Bibi, by urging their cooks and servants to kill them. They had also blocked all the main roads in Pakistan’s most prominent cities for three days.

The lawyer, Saiful Mulook, had kept a low profile during the years he represented Bibi, a mother-of-five and has been on death row since 2010, due to the highly sensitive nature of the case.

Mulook reportedly told Reuters that he had gone abroad “just to save (his) life from angry mobs” and because he was concerned about the security of his family.

However, TLP withdrew from the protests after the government assured that it would put Bibi on exit control regime, barring her from leaving the country.

The TLP was formed from a movement supporting a bodyguard who killed Punjab Provincial Governor Salman Taseer when he came out for Bibi’s defence in 2011. Federal Minister for Minorities, Shahbaz Bhatti, was also assassinated after calling for her release.

Bibi got convicted of blasphemy in 2010 for allegedly making derogatory statements about Islam after her neighbours stopped her from drinking water from their glass since she was a non-Muslim.

The case had, however, irked Christians all over the world and has been a source of division within Pakistan.

Islamist parties such as the TLP have attributed Bibi’s release to the Pakistan government succumbing to Western demands.