FINALLY, a shameful chapter in this country’s history has drawn to a close.

It emerged on Wednesday that Aasia Bibi — in protective custody at an unknown location since being acquitted of blasphemy by the Supreme Court last year — has left Pakistan for Canada, which has offered her asylum along with her family.

She had spent eight years in prison for a crime she did not commit.

The case, which burst into public view in 2009, catapulted one among millions of anonymous farmhands toiling on fields across the country into an enduring object of hate for the ultra right.

The ripples extended well beyond the immediate circumstances: the assassination in January 2011 of then Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer at the hands of his own police guard was a direct consequence.

Six months later, minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti who, like Taseer, had expressed support for Aasia Bibi and demanded changes to the blasphemy law to prevent its abuse, was also gunned down.

Mercifully though, unlike the acquittal that sparked rioting in various parts of the country, her departure for foreign shores played out quietly.

Aasia Bibi’s ordeal took on a heightened significance from the outset.

This was perhaps because there was a woman at the centre of it, that too a Christian woman — in a patriarchal society where the minorities are already vulnerable to discrimination, even persecution.

Pressure from around the world also meant that the Pakistani government had a stake in at least ensuring Aasia Bibi’s physical safety during her years of incarceration, even as the trial process dragged on.

However, there are many forgotten blasphemy accused whose cases have faded from public memory; the demand for their fair treatment comes only from their hapless families.

Take Junaid Hafeez, for example.

Mr Hafeez was a visiting faculty member at a leading Multan university when he was accused of committing blasphemy by some students and arrested in March 2013.

His case illustrates the extent to which the cancer of extremism has spread in this society.

Rashid Rehman, the lawyer defending Mr Hafeez, was threatened by no less than some of his fellow advocates who evidently believed there are exceptions to the fundamental right of due process.

On May 7, 2014, Mr Rehman was shot dead in his office; his murder remains unsolved.

The Pakistani state must not continue to abjure its duty to those victimised by the blasphemy law.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2019