Asia Bibi suffered beatings, wrongful imprisonment and the threat of hanging – yet where was her support among the ‘sisters’ of the feminist movement? Or the UN?
The UN passes resolutions in support of many victims, yet has not condemned the injustice suffered by Asia, although her case has been highlighted in a report for its periodic review of Pakistan written specially by the British Pakistani Christian Association.
The Washington Examiner asked: “If the UN does not stand for Asia Bibi, then what on earth does it stand for?… the UN will readily speak up in defence of a woman’s religious right to cover her face, but remain utterly silent when a woman’s very life hangs in the balance because of her own faith.”
When Malala Yousafzai defied the Taliban and demanded that girls be allowed to receive an education, women’s rights campaigners rightly backed her cause and she went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Oddly, though, Malala has remained silent over Asia Bibi.
And after women were sexually harassed in the movie industry, the #MeToo movement sprang up.
After all, Asia seems an ideal candidate for politically-correct ‘virtue signalling’ today. She’s a farm labourer, not a powerful businessman. She’s a woman living in a state where women are second-class citizens. And she’s a member of a persecuted minority – Christians in a fundamentalist Islamic nation.
And that’s where the difference lies. Somehow Christianity is an embarrassment to people living in lands where they owe their freedom to the Christian ideals of the past.