Fifteen years ago, a Pakistani woman who had been berry-picking in a field went to fetch some water. Upon reaching the well, she stopped to drink from an old metal cup she found on the ground. Her actions would change the course of her life forever, as well as expose deep fissures not only in the politics of her home country, but also far away in Britain.
The woman, Asia Bibi, would soon make headlines across the world. Bibi, a member of the only Catholic family in her Punjabi village, was attacked by her Muslim neighbour for daring to sip from the same vessel as used by those whom Sharia law and Pakistani caste customs deem superior to Bibi. The incident, which was also motivated by petty property grievances on the part of Bibi’s detractors, unravelled into a wider dispute.
