ShaguftaKausar and Shafqat Emmanuel, the Christian couple recently acquitted of blasphemy charges by Lahore High Court, now feel content and safe upon reaching the Netherlands.

On reaching Europe, Kausar said she thanked God and all those who had helped the couple in attaining its freedom. She particularly mentioned her lawyer, Saiful Malook, and Asia Bibi, another Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy charges who had raised the issue of Shagufta’s ordeal on reaching abroad.

“Thank God, I am out of that death cell and reunited with my kids after a very difficult time. God bestowed us with freedom. I thank you, all those who made efforts and prayed for us,” she said in a message.

A two-member bench of Lahore High Court, had recently, while hearing their long pending appeal against death sentence under Section 295 C of Pakistan Penal Code awarded by a trial court, acquitted the couple of the charges and set aside their death sentence and ordered their release. The couple from Toba Tak Singh was arrested in 2013 for allegedly sharing “blasphemous content through their mobile phone”, a charge that they denied. The trial court awarded the death sentence to the couple in April 2014. The appeal was decided on June 3. The detailed judgment came two weeks later and was followed by their release.

The European Union parliament had in April, in the backdrop of the case of this couple, adopted a resolution demanding that Pakistan allow space for religious freedom and urged the EU authorities to review the GSP Plus status for Pakistan amid an increasing number of blasphemy cases. The EU parliament, in particular, had discussed the case of this Christian couple and urged special medical care for Emmanuel who is a disabled person. This is the second case of blasphemy in Pakistan to received serious attention of the EU in the recent past. Earlier, it was Asia Bibi. EU had pursued the case actively and offered her stay in any of the union countries; but she preferred to go to Canada and stay there.

Meanwhile, the complainant has challenged the Lahore High Court order of setting aside the conviction and the death sentence. Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhary, counsel from the complainant, in his appeal before the SC, has stated “The LHC failed to appreciate the facts and law of the case in their true perspective and drew a wrong conclusion.”

“We are not sure when the case will be taken up for preliminary hearing,” he said, adding, “However, in criminal appeals, if approved for arguments, law requires the presence of the couple in the court unless exempted on specific grounds presented by them through counsel.”

The European Union parliament had in April, in the backdrop of the case of this couple, adopted a resolution demanding that Pakistan allow space for religious freedom and urged the EU authorities to review the GSP Plus status for Pakistan amid an increasing number of blasphemy cases.

Soon after the release, the federal authorities had taken the couple in their protection and kept them till their departure.

The case of the couple had broadly followed the pattern of the case of Asia Bibi, who was acquitted by SC in 2018. Her acquittal was followed by a nationwide backlash by hardliner religious groups that demanded her execution. Following the severe and violent protests and open threats to her life, Bibi had remained in protective custody for almost a year before she was sent abroad aboard a special plane.

Over the years, dealing with threats against those accused of blasphemy, been a major challenge for the state and the society. Security and protection of such persons and stopping their extra judicial killing is a serious challenge for the state.

“Mis(use) and ab(use) of blasphemy laws are evolving new patterns and organised approaches in Pakistan that need serious attention of the state,” says Muhammad Amanullah, a human rights activist who has been lobbying for legal help for those accused of blasphemy for several years. “After their arrest it takes years to get justice. Their lives are at risk even if they are acquitted. They are often compelled to leave the country. This further increases the space available to the hardliners.”

It is high time that we reflect on the saga of blasphemy cases in Pakistan.

As one Shagufta left for Europe after almost a decade in jail because of the accusations, another Shagufta (Kiran), a Christian woman in her early 40s, has been arrested and charged with blasphemy in Islamabad.

A July 29 first information report, lodged by the Federal Investigation Agency’s Cyber Crime Wing, followed by her arrest from her home in Iqbal Town, Islamabad, accuses her of disseminating blasphemous content in a WhatsApp group called, Pure Discussion. The FIA, following a complaint by a local Muslim, charged her with “using derogatory, disgraceful, immoral, and filthy comments and remarks designed willfully to despoil and outrage religious feelings, beliefs as well as principles/ spirit of slam. The FIA lodged a case against her under Sections 295-A, 295-C (carrying death penalty), 298, 298-A and 109 of Pakistan Penal Code.

The woman, formerly a nurse, is said to have been a part of a WhatsApp group of preachers for the past couple of years. Some members of an extremist Muslim group somehow managed to join the group and highlighted the matter, an official tells The News on Sunday (TNS).

They collected some controversial material and submitted it to the authorities.

“Rather than taking the law into our hand we have followed the legal way. We want a court to convict and sentence her,” says Hafiz Ihtesham Ahmed, general secretary of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-i-Namoos-Risalat Pakistan, an Islamabad-based group. He says they had filed an application with the FIA last September. It took them almost a year to lodge the case and arrest her.

The author is a staff reporter.   He can be reached at     vaqargilani@gmail.com       Twitter: @waqargillani