Pakistan: Aasia Bibi verdict and its lessons.

The acquittal of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman accused in Pakistan of blasphemy and sentenced to death, brought home some truths about the prejudice towards minorities. While the Supreme Court of Pakistan found no evidence of her alleged crime in its momentous decision highlight the need to understand the issues that plague minorities in our society. The extreme elements of radical mullahs want none of this and believe the woman should be hanged and have taken to the streets, ignoring that the basic tenant of Islam is that she should have been proven to be guilty without a shadow of doubt, they have taken to agitation and openly calling for the general to revolt.

All this took me back to my own life in Pakistan and I recalled an incident that happened when i was about 12 years old. Every summer we worked on my father farm harvesting wheat and one day being very thirsty I reached for a glass, poured some water in it and drank it. A man who was a villager working on the farm came up to me and said I just drank from Yunus Masih's glass and he is a Christian. I said "So what? He is a human being?" The man told me it was 'na Pak' (unclean) to drink or eat from a non muslims utensils. I told him its OK, and walked off.

At the root of the case against Aasia Bibi is the incident where two Muslim women accused her of using their utensils and being a Christian they felt she committed a grave crime and the argument flared from there. Now, over 40 years since my little incident I researched this subject. There is nothing in the Quran or the Hadith that forbids a Muslim to eat or drink from the utensils of a Christian or a Jew (People of the Book). A Hadith only mentions if you know a plate has been used to serve pork and there is no other alternate then you may wash the plate and use it.

We as Pakistanis fail to accept the influence of Hindu culture and practice in our society, because to all intents and purpose hundreds of years ago our ancestry is Hindu or at least influenced by Hindu's. Hindus, especially strict Brahmins, believe that a certain section of society, even Hindus, who engage in menial jobs are 'untouchables' and it is forbidden to even touch them. This whole concept on Pakistani society that Christians are not allowed to touch our plates or glasses etc come from the over hang of this concept of 'untouchables' that was in society in undivided India, and to this day exists in India.

My mother was a convert and her acceptance of Islam was a private matter and nothing she advertised or boasted about. She retained her maiden name of 'Amita' and wore a sari all her life. However, now with hindsight I often wonder how much of this played a role in my father, a highly decorated officer, not being promoted to Major General? (Perhaps it did not help matters that my mother was a very outspoken on women's rights). Growing up alot of my friends were Parsi or Christian and not once did I personally feel any difference from them or towards them. My curiosity to their different faith often resulted in my mother telling me to read about their faith and understand it.

Somewhere in the convoluted history of Pakistan all this changed and intolerance became the hallmark of being considered a 'good muslim', the mullah, assumed the role of the apostle for the uneducated and his word the gospel. The intolerance that followed mixed with the history of a nation that never quite faced its own demons resulted in all Christians and Non Muslims to be considered outcasts. These uneducated self appointed guardians of our glorious religion do not know or appreciate the role of minorities in the service of Pakistan. Names like Justice Cornelius (a Christian), Justice Dorab Patel (a Hindu) , Raja Tridiv Roy ( Buddhist), Jamshed Marker (a Parsi) and many more mean nothing to these men whose ignorance is only matched by their intolerance. These and many more are the names of men who had principles and stood for what Pakistan was to its founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah. These men, without a doubt, paid a huge personal price to make that vision of Pakistan that is now being chipped away with each sermon from these extremist mullahs.

I have had my personal journey too, and come to the fold of Islam in my own unique way, and in the process learned from my mother that you cannot be a true Muslim till you clear your doubts by questioning them. But then one cannot be on some crusade to point fingers at others and yet have the courage to speak up with in the name of Islam people like these mullahs in Pakistan condemn a woman to death on false charges. Where they use religion as a tool to manipulate the masses to meet their own political ends.

Aasia Bibi's case has brought to our conscious that the Supreme Court found her non guilty on all counts and they, rightfully said in their judgement that they are the highest court in the land not just for Muslims but for all those tried under the laws of Pakistan. The three judges have done their part now for the vast majority of Pakistani's it is time to stand up and tell these miscreants on the streets making a noise that they cannot hijack the verdict, they cannot change the writ of the law to suit their own motives. Failure to do so will only play into the hands of these elements who are a disgrace to a religion that seeks fairness to its minorities, and after decades of mistreatment this verdict takes a giant step towards making things right. But, its only one step, the rest we all have to take together.