ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has adjourned the hearing of Asia Bibi blasphemy case for an indefinite period after a judge rescued himself from the bench.
At the outset, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman rescued himself from the three-member bench hearing the blasphemy case. “I was a part of the bench that was hearing the case of Salmaan Taseer, and this case is related to that,” he told the court.
The bench comprising Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rahman and Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik was formed to hear the appeal filed by Asia Bibi, a Christian mother of five who has been on death row since 2010.
Now the chief justice will reconstitute the panel for the case. The court did not immediately set a new date for the appeal.
Observers had warned of possible violence if Bibi´s conviction was overturned, with some calling the case a battle for Pakistan´s soul as the state walks a line between upholding human rights and appeasing hardliners.
Clerics at the influential Red Mosque in Islamabad warned late Wednesday they would launch a nationwide protest if Bibi is released.
“Any one who will defend or will protect the blasphemer will equally be considered as blasphemer,” spokesman Hafiz Ihtesham Ahmed said.
He warned against foreign diplomats lobbying for Bibi´s release, saying clerics would mobilise the public if she was freed and “everyone will become Qadri”.
Bibi´s lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook called the Red Mosque threat “big”.
“I hope the government takes it very seriously and takes care of our security,” he told media outside the court Thursday.
