The Foreign Office on Wednesday said that after being cleared by the Supreme Court in a high-profile blasphemy case, Asia Bibi has the right to travel anywhere.
Foreign Office spokesperson Dr Faisal said Asia Bibi can travel inside Pakistan or even make a foreign visit as she has been cleared from all charges by the highest court of law.
A review petition challenging the Supreme Court’s decision to acquit Asia Bibi, a peasant Christian woman enmeshed in a years-long blasphemy row, was rejected by the top court on Tuesday. Headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, a three-member bench comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel tossed out the petition against their decision of October 2018 to clear Asia Bibi of blasphemy charges. “Based on merit, this review petition is dismissed. You could not point out [even] a single mistake in the Supreme Court’s verdict,” the top judge told the petitioner’s lawyer during the Tuesday’s proceedings.
Published in Daily Times, January 31st 2019.
