Ittanwali or ‘She Of the Bricks’, as it literally translates from the local language of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province - the region worst affected by religious extremism and persecution of religious minorities, who make up hardly five percent of the Muslim-majority country's population, is a tiny village where Pakistani Christian woman Asia Bibi lived for decades until she was falsely accused by her Muslim co-workers of blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in 2010. Asia Bibi's life changed forever when she had some arguments with her female co-workers, who had asked her to fetch a glass of water, but then refused to drink from her glass because she was a Christian.
While putting on my jeans and organising my audio recording equipment in the bag on a cold, misty morning in November 2010, I hoped that the village’s name should never translate into an action, i.e no one should pick up a brick and stone Asia to death, as usually happens to many suspects who are accused of blasphemy with a number of victims who were lynched by vigilante mobs over the past decades in Pakistan.
“You ask anyone where the Ittanwali village is and they would guide you through (because) everyone now knows about the place. Even the foreign journalists,” a local journalist friend told me over the phone a day before my journey as I planned my reporting trip from Lahore.
The village is located in the suburbs of Nankana Sahib district, home to Gurdwara Janam Asthan – a Sikh temple where the founder of Sikhism, Guru Nanak was born. Pakistan's government proudly claims not only to protect this most revered worship place of the Sikhs but also facilitates the pilgrims visiting here from all over the world for their annual worship.
The outer walls of the judicial complex had been - inscribed with slogans “Christians and Ahmadis are infidels, liable to be killed” clearly showcasing the state of mind of even the lawyers, who at least are supposed to be the defenders of the law, not the personal whims.
But the country largely fails to protect its religious minorities including the Sikhs, Hindus, Christians, and others, who have a history of being persecuted by the Muslim majority.
While it was my dream to visit this world-famous Gurdwara someday, once there, I headed directly to the district courts, where the year-long trial of Asia Bibi had just concluded with the district judge sentencing her to harshest punishment of death (by hanging if executed).
Clad in black and white uniforms, lawyers, who had distributed sweets at the district courts a few days ago to celebrate Asia’s death sentence, were busy chatting with each other. The outer walls of the judicial complex had been inscribed with slogans “Christians and Ahmadis are infidels, liable to be killed”. They clearly showcased the state of mind of the lawyers, who at the very least are supposed to be the defenders of the law, not slaves to personal whims.
Being a journalist, I wanted to get an “official comment” from the district prosecutor, who had argued the horrible charge of blasphemy against Asia. He (the prosecutor) initially had agreed to give an interview, but later excused himself, saying, “This case is of a very sensitive nature”.
It was clear to me that the prosecutor, who himself had claimed to have successfully proved the charge of blasphemy in court on a Christian woman, was now dragging his feet from publicly claiming such a victory. But why?
The reason for his denial was the strong criticism Islamabad had received from the international community after the foreign media largely highlighted the sentencing as the first-ever death sentence handed to a Christian woman in Pakistan over blasphemy – an allegation which is often found to be falsely levelled, particularly against members of religious minorities either by individuals or Islamist groups to settle personal scores.
Being socio-economically weak, members of Pakistan's religious minorities often fall prey to such allegations.
Upon the district prosecutor’s refusal to speak to me, I hired a rickshaw to travel to Ittanwali village and interview Asia’s family. “The village is not far away, but the road is very bumpy, it might take a while to get there”, said the rickshaw driver, who was probably happy to get the last passenger of the day, who would pay for a round-trip without any bargain.
Soon, we had sped off the metalled roads outside the district courts and on to the thin, muddy narrow track to the village. Thick, lush green forests surrounded us on both sides. As the evening spread its arms, I saw the villagers rushing home, many transporting fodder for their cattle on bicycles, motorcycles, donkey carts, or tractor-trolleys heavily loaded beyond their apparent capacity.
Along the way, we passed through some tiny settlements and hamlets, comprising a few houses and then thick, long stretches of forest. It was already getting chilly, but the environment in the Ittanwali village was emotionally charged.
“Where is Asia’s house,” I inquired from an Ittanwali village woman who appeared to be in her 50s.
At first, the woman gave me an angry look, clearly suggesting she was one of the 200 Muslims living in the village, and then begrudgingly pointed her finger to her immediately neighbouring house, where Asia's was the only Christian family living for decades.
The evening I reached the village, it was completely silent unlike a few days ago when it was buzzing with the print and television journalists, camerapersons, and DSNG (digital satellite news gathering) mobile vans. Some foreigners had also reportedly visited the village to interview Asia’s sister, Najma, who was still living in the village with her husband and two minor kids. What courage it was on their part.
The rusting iron door opened into the veranda of a house that was hardly five-Marlas large. In the corner was a small single room where, under a dim yellow light, some sparsely clothed children ate some boiled rice.
Najma greeted and served me a cup of hot tea before settling with a cup herself. “All the neighbours say that my sister Asia has blasphemed against Prophet Muhammad (PBUH); it is a bunch of lies,” she said, kicking off the discussion.
“Everyone here is Muslim. And we are the only Christian family in this entire village. So, how can we even dare to blaspheme against their Prophet?” asked the Catholic Christian, who was then in her mid-30s.
She sounded broken and helpless.
Almost a year prior to my visit, Najma said the village had been echoed with chants from the angry residents and the cries of Asia, her husband, and their daughters when public announcements were made from the village’s mosque that she had allegedly committed blasphemy.
Five days after having quarreled with her Muslim co-workers in the fields, Asia was put before an assembly of villagers, where she had allegedly made an extra-judicial confession.
“In fact, a mob took Asia from our house, beat her, and tore her clothes, as they dragged her through the streets to the place where the villagers had assembled led by the local mosque’s cleric,” Asia's sister had narrated.
In another astonishing revelation that Najma made, which was never reported in either Pakistani nor foreign media, a proposition was made to Asia by the village assembly.
“They wanted Asia to convert from Christianity to Islam. But when she refused, she was falsely accused of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by her female Muslim co-workers,” said Najma.
Eight years later, a three-judge bench of Pakistan's Supreme Court found Asia Bibi innocent and thus acquitted her of the charges, citing glaring contradictions in the testimonies of the witnesses, including the complainant, who himself was a cleric in the village's mosque.
The apex court also trashed Asia's extra-judicial confession which she allegedly made before the villagers’ assembly, noting that the witnesses even contradicted the place where such an assembly was held.
After finishing the interview, as I left Asia’s house, I heard the call to prayer from the Ittanwali village’s mosque, the same place from where once false public announcements were made that a Christian woman had allegedly blasphemed against the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), thus she was an infidel, hence liable to be killed. The call to prayer was made by the same cleric who was later found by the Supreme Court to be a liar.
Back then, the weak voice of the lone Christian family in a far-flung village had disappeared in nationwide protests by Muslim extremist groups in reaction to a statement by the then Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, where he suggested amending the country’s controversial blasphemy laws to stop its misuse against religious minorities.
Today, Mr Zardari is once again Pakistan's President.
Long history
According to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a non-profit organisation that compiles data on cases involving blasphemy allegations, 499 blasphemy cases were reported during the three-and-a-half-year-long tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) between 2018-2022. This number has only been exceeded under former dictator General Pervez Musharraf’s regime with 503 cases from 2000-2007.
“The PTI government’s tenure was the worst compared to its predecessors in terms of victimisation of religious minorities and Muslims alike over allegations of blaspheming the majority religion,” says Peter Jacob, the executive director of CSJ.
There is a clear upward trend in the use of blasphemy laws over the years, he added.
Two high-profile political figures of his Pakistan People’s Party – first the only Christian federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti and then powerful governor of Punjab Salman Taseer – were killed for their calls for amending the blasphemy law to stop its misuse against the religious minorities.
Government figures show that in the years since the blasphemy law was promulgated during the regime of dictator General Ziaul Haq saw only 31 cases (1987-1988) compared to the hundreds reported in recent years. Sixteen cases were filed during the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government from 1989-1990, 98 during the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) rule 1991-1993 rule, 76 in PPP’s second tenure (1994-1996), and 195 during PML-N’s 1997-1999 regime. The upward trend of cases saw an exponential rise during the Musharraf regime when the numbers crossed the 500 mark.
The successive civilian governments that followed the Musharraf's dictatorship failed to control the misuse of blasphemy laws with 441 blasphemy cases registered during the PPP government from 2008-2013 and 261 during PML-N’s government from 2014-2018.
The numbers then soared close to the 500 mark once again during the PTI government.
It is worth mentioning here that two high-profile political figures part of the PPP – first powerful governor of Punjab Salman Taseer and then the only Christian federal minister Shahbaz Bhatti – were killed over their calls for amending the blasphemy law to stop its misuse against the religious minorities.
Six years on, however, the voices of the Christians, Hindus, Ahmadiyyah, and other religious minorities in Pakistan appear to be weaker today than ever before. The screams from extremist groups are gaining more power in Pakistan. This time, the fear looms large over religious minorities who spend sleepless nights as radical groups, particularly the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) actively prey on innocent people on a near daily basis. Those facing blasphemy allegations continue to be lynched in broad daylight, as if not even the law of the jungle prevails in Pakistan. The suspects are neither arrested nor tried. The same is the case with the culprits, who are resourceful enough to escape accountability and none of them have ever been punished for leveling a ‘false’ allegation of blasphemy against the victims, many of whom have been lynched over the decades.