Last week, one of the most long-awaited court rulings in Pakistan’s modern history was delayed. Asia Bibi, a Christian woman, stands accused of blasphemy, for which the penalty is death. Like many such cases, it rests on a flimsy legal basis. But it also stirs intense sectarian feeling. One Islamist group says they will take to the streets if Bibi is acquitted.
I met Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore in London, on the day scheduled for Bibi’s supreme court hearing. The day before, it was announced that one trial judge has had to withdraw because of his involvement in a related case. The hearing might be months away.
