[Jpost] Pak Prime Minister Imran Khan
... aka Taliban Khan , who ain't the sharpest bulb on the national tree...
has announced that Asia Bibi, a Christian woman who last year was saved from death row after being accused of blasphemy against Islam, will soon leave Pakistain to be reunited with her family.
"She will leave Pakistain in a couple of weeks," Khan told foreign journalists in Islamabad.
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News of the impending release came on the heels of British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s statement in the UK Parliament earlier this month that Bibi’s freedom was being negotiated.
"Making sure that she is safe and has somewhere safe to go is a top priority for this government," Hunt told politicians. "We have had numerous discussions in private with [the] Pak government about how to progress on this. We are making progress, and I’m very hopeful that this will have a positive outcome."
Pak authorities confirmed to The Media Line that the necessary documentation, including visa and air tickets, was ready.
She is all set to travel abroad. We are waiting for the green signal from concerned authorities in this regard," a senior government official told The Media Line on condition of anonymity.
 Bibi, a Christian mother of five, had been on death row since 2010. She was accused of committing blasphemy in 2009, when she left home early one June morning for farm work, like many of the women in her village.
On that fateful day, as she was picking berries under the scorching sun, she was asked by her colleagues to fetch some water from the nearby well. She set off, jug in hand. But on her way back, she took a sip of the water before handing it over to her Moslem co-workers, which made them furious.
In Pakistain, most Moslems refrain from eating or drinking with people of other faiths, whom they believe are impure. Angered by Asia’s taking a sip of water, her Moslem colleagues told her she was dirty and not worthy of drinking from the same cup as they.
A fierce argument erupted and harsh words were exchanged, climaxing with the Moslem workers accusing Bibi of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
Several days later, police barged into Bibi’s house and tossed in the slammer
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
her on suspicion of blasphemy. During her trial, she maintained her innocence, but in 2010 was sentenced to death. She spent the past nine years in solitary confinement.
Bibi’s case came under scrutiny on January 4, 2011, when Salmaan Taseer, one of Pakistain’s most prominent politicians and the governor of Punjab, the country’s biggest province, was assassinated in Islamabad by one of his bodyguards, apparently for trying to secure Bibi’s release. International media described the liquidation as "one of the most traumatic events in Pak history."
Hopes for Bibi’s early release sank following Taseer’s death, but her family never lost hope, her husband appealing the death sentence before Pakistain’s Supreme Court.
On October 31, 2018, the court acquitted Bibi, citing "material contradictions and inconsistent statements of the witnesses" that "cast a shadow of doubt on the prosecution’s version of the facts."
The ruling sparked nationwide protests headed by right-wing Islamist parties. Meanwhile,
...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact...
human rights
When they're defined by the state or an NGO they don't mean much...
groups such as International Christian Concern, Open Doors and Aid to the Church in Need widely hailed the decision.
The government filed a review petition before the Supreme Court against her acquittal. Meanwhile,
...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact...
on November 7, the authorities released her, moving her to a safe house in Islamabad in response to death threats. One of the threats came from hardline Moslem holy man Maulana Yousaf Qureshi, who offered a reward of 500,000 rupees ($3,700) to anyone who would kill her.
On January 29, the government petition appealing Bibi’s acquittal was rejected, lifting the last legal hurdle in the case and paving the way for her to leave the country. Her family had already moved to Canada due to the death threats.
"I am missing her so much," Bibi’s youngest daughter, Eisham Ashiq, 18, told The Daily Mail on Sunday. "I think about her all the time and I speak to her on the phone all the time. I say to her, ’Have faith in God, because if God can release you from jail, God can release you from where you are now. He will bring you out.’"
Pak Foreign Office front man Mohammad Faisal told The Media Line that Asia was free following the court’s decision.
"To the best of my knowledge, Asia Bibi is still in Pakistain. She is a free woman. Only she can decide whether to live in Pakistain or move abroad," Faisal said.
Ahmer Shaheen, managing editor of Pakistain’s The Daily Times, says Pakistain is not doing anyone a favor by letting an innocent person go.
"Asia Bibi’s case was high profile," he told The Media Line. "Punjab’s former governor Shaheed Salman Taseer and former federal minister of minorities Shaheed Shahbaz Bhatti gave their lives to highlight her plight. [But] many more languish in jails, as the state is not ready to give them justice as yet.... The state needs to be sympathetic toward all its citizens, because that is its primary responsibility. Acting on international pressure will always be too little too late."
While many in Pakistain and abroad have hailed the prime minister’s statement about Bibi’s imminent release and reunion with her family abroad, her case is highly unlikely to change the situation for Pakistain’s Christian community.
In February, a teenage Christian girl was allegedly kidnapped and forcefully converted to Islam. The victim’s family claims her abductors are using the country’s legal system to keep her from returning home.
According to International Christian Concern (ICC), 13-year-old Sadaf Masih was kidnapped by three men identified as Maqbool Hussain, Mubashir Hussain Baloch and Azhir Hussain Baloch. Eight days after her abduction, her family was told that she had converted to Islam and married a Moslem man.
ICC noted that abductions and forced conversions to Islam were common among religious minorities in Pakistain. An estimated 1,000 women from the country’s Christian and Hindu communities are kidnapped, raped, and forcefully converted to Islam each year. 
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