Conservatives should champion Asia Bibi’s cause

The image of thousands of Islamist protesters rioting in Pakistan last month brandishing signs reading “Death to Asia” is now infamous. But Asia Bibi’s search for asylum has still failed to impel significant action from the British Government. In the face of obfuscations by Theresa May, Conservative politicians must stand up for British values and champion Bibi’s cause.

Pakistan has a fraught relationship with democracy. The country’s entanglement with Islamist and jihadist organisations fundamentally undermine the facade of a secular state. And for Catholic mother and farm worker Asia Bibi, this facade came crumbling down years ago. She was imprisoned for almost a decade under charges of the ridiculous crime of blasphemy against Prophet Muhammad — and with spurious evidence. Last month, the country’s Supreme Court finally acquitted her and ruled that she must be released.  But her life is perhaps now in more danger than ever before. Violent Islamist mobs rioted for her death in Islamabad and Karachi, and she continues to hide away without adequate protection.

It is abhorrent that despite her perilous predicament in Pakistan, her search for asylum has not yet been fruitful. Bibi is forced to live under a government which is unable to protect her life — one that continues to give legitimacy to the blasphemy laws under which she was sentenced to death.

One might have thought that Britain would be the natural place for Bibi to seek refuge with her husband and children. After all, Britain is Pakistan’s former colonial ruler, a Christian country, the home of over one million Pakistanis and the birthplace of toleration. But the British Government has pandered to Islamist groups, and seems to have squandered any chances of Bibi being offered asylum. Theresa May addressed the issue during Prime Minister’s Questions, acknowledging Bibi’s plight but saying that the Government would not yet be able to announce any formal assistance. While May’s statement was vague, the British Pakistani Christian Association was able to offer more clarity. They said that the Foreign Office had rejected her plea for asylum due to a fear of “unrest” in Pakistan as a result.

As a leading world power with far more economic and diplomatic clout than Pakistan, the notion that the British should be blackmailed into inaction by the very Islamist groups who seek Bibi’s death is absurdity.

In the face of the government’s indecision, it is the moral duty of Conservative politicians to champion Bibi’s case. In British society, the value of toleration should mean that one religion’s teachings are not allowed to infringe on the rights of others. At this pivotal moment in British history, as we prepare to leave the E.U., our ruling party must now more than ever show the rest of the world what Britain stands for.

The Labour Party under Jeremy Corbyn is morally bankrupt and ill-equipped to champion the cause of any asylum seeker. Corbyn plays lip service to human rights whilst continuing to support dictatorial and oppressive regimes across the world. His international human rights record is appalling. He was payed up to £20,000 to appear on Iranian-state owned Press TV after the channel’s broadcasting licence had been revoked by Ofcom for its complicity in the torture of a journalist. Jeremy Corbyn’s domestic record on human rights is just as abhorrent, as he refuses to recognise the legitimacy of fears from the British-Jewish community about the impact of his leadership.

Lastly, Corbyn’s political strategy has seen him ally himself with abhorrent Islamist supporters. At Finsbury Park Mosque in 2016, Corbyn was pictured reportedly making the four-fingered Rabbi’ah sign, used by the Muslim Brotherhood as a symbol of support for the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. This is not to mention his support for the Islamist organisations Hamas and Hezbollah in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Abigail Frymann Rouch said last week that it could appear to be racist if the Tory party promotes Bibi’s cause. But it is far from racist to champion minorities. If British values mean anything, it is certainly that all minorities must be afforded equal protections in society – no matter which religion they follow.

Boris Johnson put it well in his letter to Sajid Javid, urging him to offer Bibi asylum: “I do not think it is a dignified position for the UK, given our historic links with Pakistan and the extent of our influence there, to look to others to do what we are allegedly nervous to do ourselves”.

In Pakistan, the government has effectively capitulated to the Islamists; pledging to work towards putting Bibi on an “exit-control” list. The Supreme Court has now ruled that before Bibi is officially allowed to leave the country, they must hear a petition drawn up by Islamist groups that calls for the overturn of her release. We must show moral leadership in international affairs and stand up to such behaviour — lest we become guilty of capitulating to the same groups actively calling for Bibi’s death in Pakistan.