The government and Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) have reached terms to conclude the latter's nationwide protest, DawnNewsTV has reported, with the government making the concession to "initiate the legal process" to place Asia Bibi's name on the exit control list (ECL).

The government has also said it will not oppose a review petition filed against the Supreme Court's judgement in the Asia Bibi blasphemy case.

The government has also promised to take appropriate legal action to redress any deaths that may have occurred during the protests against the Asia Bibi verdict and to release all people picked up in connection with the protests starting October 30.

The TLP has, in turn, apologised if it "hurt the sentiments or inconvenienced anyone without reason".

The agreement was signed by Dr Noorul Haq Qadri (religious affairs minister) and Raja Basharat (law minister Punjab) on behalf of the government, and by Pir Muhammad Afzal Qadri (senior leader of the TLP) and Muhammad Waheed Noor (central chief nazim of the TLP).

Following the agreement with the government, the TLP leaders addressed the participants of their protest in Lahore and asked them to end the protest and clear the roads, DawnNewsTV reported.

“The party leaders have announced to end protest sit-ins across the country. Workers have been asked to disperse peacefully,” TLP spokesperson Pir Ijaz Qadri said.

The complainant in the Asia Bibi case, Qari Muhammad Salaam, had filed a review petition a day earlier through his counsel, Ghulam Mustafa, against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Asia's conviction in the blasphemy case.

The petitioner had also sought the placement of Asia's name on the Exit Control List (ECL) till the judgement is reviewed.

The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf had said yesterday that the federal government does not plan to “put Asia Bibi’s name on the exit control list (ECL) or [file an] appeal for a review against the apex court’s verdict”.

It had further said that the review petition filed by Salaam was "filed by the concerned party, which has nothing to do with the government”.</s>Pakistan’s government has been accused of signing the “death warrant” of Asia Bibi after it said it would begin the process of preventing her leaving the country.

Bibi, a Christian farm labourer, was acquitted of blasphemy on Wednesday. She had spent eight years on death row after she drank from the same cup as a Muslim, prompting false allegations that she insulted the prophet Muhammad.

Bibi’s lawyer, Saif-ul-Mulook, has reportedly since fled the country amid fears for his life, telling AFP: “I need to stay alive as I still have to fight the legal battle for Asia Bibi.”

The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) administration signed an agreement with the anti-blasphemy group Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) on Friday night, giving in to many of its demands in the face of massive, countrywide protests calling for Bibi to be put to death.

The release of Asia Bibi is a small step towards a more open Pakistan | Kunwar Khuldune Shahid Read more

In a document signed by the PTI’s religious affairs minister and the TLP’s second-in-command, Pir Afzal Qadri, the government promised not to oppose a court petition to reverse Bibi’s release. It also pledged to work in the meantime to put her name on the exit control list (ECL) which would prevent her leaving the country.

“Placing Asia Bibi on the ECL is like signing her death warrant,” said Wilson Chowdhry of the British Pakistani Christian Association. Bibi, a mother of five, remains in the same prison where last month two men tried to kill her, although she has been shifted out of her windowless cell.

The agreement was a “historic capitulation”, tweeted analyst Mosharraf Zaidi. On Wednesday night, the prime minister and leader of the PTI, Imran Khan, defended the verdict acquitting Bibi and suggested the government would clamp down on protesters it termed “enemies of the state”.

The TLP has agreed to call off its protests, which saw thousands of Islamists blockade the country’s major motorways, burning cars and lorries and chanting that they were ready to die to protect the honour of the prophet.

Meanwhile, the government has promised to free any TLP workers arrested during the three-day protest. The group has only apologised for the damage it caused, the cost of which one government official estimated at $1.2bn (£900m).

Afzal Qadri told the Guardian “the government has almost accepted our maximum demands” and that if it backtracked “we can come [out on the streets] again”.

Islamists poured on to the streets after Friday prayers in a show of force that briefly unified extremist groups from the majority Barelvi sect, which the TLP springs from, and the more traditionally hardline Deobandis. Terrorist-linked outfits including Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat held rallies in Islamabad, alleging that the EU had pressurised the government into releasing Bibi.

While the protests were ongoing, unknown assailants stabbed Sami ul Haq – the leader of the Haqqania madrasa known as the “father of the Taliban” – to death in his own home.

The spokesperson for Pakistan’s army, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, said that the military’s chief condemned the assassination and expressed “grief and condolences” for the ul Haq family. Earlier in the day, Ghafoor released a statement about the protests which avoided criticising the TLP, despite its leaders calling for soldiers to mutiny.</s>The complainant in Asia Bibi case, Qari Muhammad Salaam, on Thursday filed a review petition through his counsel Azhar Siddiqui against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn her conviction in the blasphemy case, DawnNewsTV reported.

Earlier on Wednesday, the apex court had acquitted Asia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death on blasphemy charges, after accepting an appeal against her sentence.

Know more: Country remains tense on day 2 of protests against Asia Bibi's acquittal

In the review petition, filed at the Lahore registry of the apex court, the complainant has urged the Supreme Court to reconsider it yesterday's decision granting Asia Bibi's acquittal.

The SC in its much-anticipated judgement in the 'Asia Bibi v. The State, etc' case, reversed its earlier judgments handed down by the Lahore High Court as well as a trial court and thereby overturned the conviction of Asia Bibi in the blasphemy case against her.

The three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Saqib Nisar, Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel had subsequently ordered the 50-something mother-of-four's immediate release from jail, where she had been languishing for 9-odd years.</s>Thousands of Islamist protesters have brought parts of Pakistan to a standstill, burning rickshaws, cars and lorries to protest against the acquittal of a Christian woman who spent eight years on death row on false charges of blasphemy.

Traffic jams held up ambulances and forced mothers to feed their babies by the side of the road, while authorities shut schools across most of the country.

Footage from the protests shows anti-blasphemy campaigners clubbing and throwing shoes at posters of Pakistan’s chief justice and the new prime minister, Imran Khan, who on Wednesday night threatened a fierce government response if protesters did not disperse.

The landmark release of Asia Bibi, a 47-year-old farm labourer, has pitched the country into the latest of several battles with supporters of Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a rabid, fast-growing political party that exists solely to punish blasphemers.

Ms Bibi was accused of making derogatory remarks about Islam after neighbours objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim. But a three-judge panel set up to hear the appeal, headed by chief justice Saqib Nisar, ruled the evidence was insufficient.

Police have so far shied away from arresting protesters and the powerful armed forces, which often appear to align with Islamists, have yet to issue a statement, despite TLP leaders daring to call for mutiny in its ranks.

On Thursday, rightwing religious organisations, including Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JUD), a charity founded by UN-designated terrorist Hafiz Saeed, and the Jamaat-Ulema-e-Islam, announced that they would join the TLP protest on Friday, in what could become an unmanageable conflagration.

The new government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) appeared to backtrack on Thursday evening, sending a five-member negotiating team to meet Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the leader of the TLP. Government officials released contradictory statements on whether they had placed Ms Bibi on the exit control list, which would prevent her fleeing the country.

Ms Bibi’s brother said she would leave Pakistan after her formal release from an undisclosed place where she is being held for security reasons.

James Masih said his sister was not safe in Pakistan and that paperwork for her release and departure to an unspecified country was being processed. He would not say where she planned to go. France and Spain have offered asylum.

In public speeches, Mr Rizvi, the TLP leader, has said his only demand is that the mother of five be put to death, the punishment for blasphemy under Pakistan’s penal code. “Our sit-in will go on until the government accepts our demand,” he said in a telephone interview, denying reports that the sit-in would soon be over.

Imran Khan is scheduled to return on November 5th from a diplomatic visit to China, Pakistan’s oldest ally. Liberals hope that the prime minister, who echoed the TLP’s rhetoric on the campaign trail and has already backed down before the group, will stick to his newfound principles under the most severe test of a turbulent first 10 weeks in power.

“It’s up in the air,” said analyst Fasi Zaka. “You still get the feeling they are figuring out what to do.”

In a televised national broadcast late on Wednesday, prime minister Imran Khan warned the protesters the government would act against any prolonged blockade.

“We will not allow any damages. We will not allow traffic to be blocked,” Mr Khan said. “I appeal to you, do not push the state to the extent that it is forced to take action.” – Guardian/Agencies</s>Husband of Asia Bibi calls for her protection

BERLIN: The husband of Asia Bibi at the centre of a divisive blasphemy case on Saturday criticised a government deal with protesters that left her in legal limbo, and called on authorities to protect her.

Asia Bibi, on death row since 2010 on blasphemy charges, was acquitted by the Supreme Court Wednesday and ordered set free, triggering protests by Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), who paralysed Pakistan for three days.

The government reached a deal Friday to end the protests by agreeing to a travel ban preventing Bibi from leaving the country, and saying it would not object to TLP appealing the verdict.

An appeal has been filed with the Supreme Court.

"It is wrong to set a precedent in which you pile pressure onto the judiciary," Bibi´s husband Ashiq Masih told German Deutsche Welle radio.

He said the government should never have yielded to pressure from protesters.

Masih said the court had been "very courageous" to acquit his wife, an illiterate mother in her 50s whose case started in 2009 while she was working in the fields.

"The current situation is very dangerous for us. We have no security and are hiding here and there, frequently changing our location," Masih said.

Bibi´s lawyer fled Pakistan on Saturday, fearing for his life.

Masih demanded the government reinforce Bibi´s protection in prison, worrying that she may be attacked. He cited the case of two Christian men who were shot dead after a court acquitted them in another blasphemy case.

"The situation is dangerous for Asia. I feel that her life is not secure," he said. "So I appeal to government to enhance Asia´s security in jail".</s>The release of imprisoned Christian mother Asia Bibi has been delayed as the Pakistan Supreme Court will have to review its decision to acquit the farm laborer of blasphemy charges after signing an agreement with a radical Muslim group.

Powered by Tehreek-e-Labbaik and other extremist parties, thousands of radical Muslim have protested nationwide since the Pakistan Supreme Court acquitted Bibi (also known as Aasiya Noreen) on Wednesday. The protests and sit-ins have grown and led to the disruption of cell service and school closures in some cities.

It was reported by her family on Thursday that Bibi (also known as Aasiya Noreen) was expected to be released and allowed the leave the country Thursday night after spending eight years on death row for blasphemy accusations that she denies.

But according to The Associated Press, an agreement was struck Friday between the Pakistan government and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Party, which staunchly supports the nation's controversial blasphemy laws and was founded out of support for a man who was convicted of killing a Pakistani politician who sought blasphemy reform.

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony, Noorul Haq Qadri, who signed the agreement, announced that Bibi won't be allowed to leave Pakistan until the Supreme Court makes a final review of its verdict. In exchange, the TLP will call off their protests.

Pakistan's DawnNewsTV reports that the government agreed to "initiate the legal process" to place Bibi on the exit control list.

"Placing Asia Bibi on the ECL is like signing her death warrant," Wilson Chowdhry, chairman of the British Pakistani Christian Association, told The Guardian.

The agreement comes as the lawyer for the Muslim complainant who accused Bibi of blasphemy filed a petition for review of the Supreme Court decision on Thursday. The government said it won't oppose the request for Supreme Court review.

Additionally, the government reportedly agreed to release people who were arrested during the protests against the Supreme Court's decision.

The TLP agreed to apologize for the fact that its protests might have "hurt the sentiments or inconvenienced anyone without reason."

In addition to Qadri, the agreement was signed by Punjab law minister Raja Basharat.

On behalf of TLP, the agreement was signed by leader Muhammad Afzal Qadri, who earlier this week had called for the death of the three Supreme Court justices involved in Bibi's acquittal. The agreement was also signed by fellow TLP leader Muhammad Waheed Noor.

According to the AP, Pakistan's Supreme Court isn't known to reverse its decisions. However, court reviews can take years to settle, which could mean that Bibi might spend years more in prison.

In prison, Bibi's life has been in danger.

On Thursday, Pakistani authorities revealed that they arrested two prisoners last month for plotting to kill Bibi.

If she's released, activists say Bibi would need to be granted asylum in a foreign country because of the number of radical Muslims who want her dead in Pakistan.

Spain and France have reportedly offered the mother asylum, according to Bibi's family.

The BPCA, a London-based charity, has launched a petition calling on Western governments to offer asylum to Bibi and members of her family.

Chowdhry has been in contact with Bibi's husband, Ashiq Masih. Chowdhry reports that if Bibi and Masih are granted asylum in Spain or France, only her children who are dependent on her and her husband's care will also be granted asylum.

"We the undersigned ... urge all Western nations to offer full-family asylum for Asia Bibi, her husband Ashiq Masih and all her children, their spouses and Asia's grandchildren," the petition reads. "We also call for similar provision for their guardian Joseph Nadeem and his family who are also deeply under threat."</s>The release of a Christian woman in Pakistan, acquitted eight years after being sentenced to death for blasphemy, was apparently delayed Friday after talks failed between the government and radical Islamists who want her publicly hanged.

Islamists held rallies Friday across Pakistan against freedom for Asia Bibi and to denounce Wednesday’s Supreme Court ruling that overturned her 2010 conviction of insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Her family has always maintained her innocence and says she never insulted Islam’s prophet.

Since the landmark ruling, radical Islamists have blocked highways and damaged or set fire to dozens of vehicles to pressure the government to stop Bibi’s release from an undisclosed detention facility.

On Friday, some 5,000 Islamists rallied in the capital, Islamabad and nearly 4,000 demonstrators staged a sit-in in Lahore, demanding that Bibi’s acquittal verdict be overturned. Similar rallies were also held in the northwestern city of Peshawar; there were no reports of violence.

Over 2,000 demonstrators blocked a key road linking Islamabad with the garrison city of Rawalpindi, causing traffic jams. Hundreds also blocked another key motorway, connecting Islamabad with other major cities. No violence was reported during the rallies.

On Thursday, a lawyer representing a local cleric who had raised the initial blasphemy charges against Bibi petitioned the Supreme Court to reverse its acquittal.

Pakistan shut down schools and colleges after radical cleric Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the leader of Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, announced that “talks” between his deputies and the government about Bibi’s fate had failed.

Before dawn Friday, Rizvi told an emotionally-charged rally in the eastern city of Lahore that one of the government negotiators threatened his deputies during the talks that security forces will ruthlessly kill them if they did not disperse peacefully. He asked his supporters to continue sit-ins as authorities summoned paramilitary troops to restore order.

“We are ready to die to show our love for the prophet,” he said.

Rizvi’s envoys had demanded that Bibi be barred from leaving the country but Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry rejected the demand, saying the government will not accept any dictates.

Ghulam Mustafa, a lawyer representing a provincial cleric in Punjab who had filed the initial blasphemy charges against Bibi, petitioned the Supreme Court, requesting the judges review her acquittal. The court has set not dates to take up the petition, but Bibi’s release could be further delayed by the process. Pakistan’s Supreme Court has not been known to reverse its decisions but court reviews typically take years.

Interior Minister Sheharyar Afridi said Friday that officials were trying to persuade Islamists to disperse their rallies peacefully.

Authorities also stepped up security near an undisclosed detention facility where Bibi is being held for her safety. On Thursday, prison officials said two inmates were arrested last month for planning to kill Bibi by strangling her. They said the men were still being questioned.

Bibi’s family had expected her release by Thursday night. Her husband, Ashiq Masih, returned from Britain with their children in mid-October and was waiting for her release so that they could fly out of Pakistan. Though the family has not disclosed the country of her destination, France and Spain have offered asylum.

Islamabad authorities suspended mobile phone services on Friday in the city, likely to prevent the crowds from swelling further in the Pakistan capital.

Bibi’s acquittal has posed a challenge to the government of Pakistan’s new Prime Minister Imran Khan, who came to power this summer partly by pursuing the Islamist agenda.

Khan condemned the Islamists on Wednesday after cleric Afzal Qadri urged supporters to kill the three judges who acquitted Bibi, revolt against army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa and overthrow Khan’s government.

Military’s spokesman Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor said Friday the army was exercising restraint, to give a chance for a peaceful resolution. He asked demonstrators to refrain from violence and await the outcome of the review petition to the Supreme Court.

“Let this legal process be completed first,” he told state-run Pakistan Television.

Bibi was arrested in 2009 after she was accused of blasphemy following a quarrel with two fellow female farm workers who refused to drink from a water container used by a Christian. A few days later, a mob accused her of insulting Islam’s prophet, leading to her 2010 conviction.

Bibi’s case has drawn international attention and also put Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy laws into focus again. The charge of blasphemy carried the death penalty in this majority Muslim nation and critics say it is often used to settle feuds and arguments.</s>Widespread protests across Pakistan over the supreme court’s reversal this week of Asia Bibi’s 2010 death penalty verdict for alleged blasphemy on Friday delayed the release of the Christian mother who family members believe needs to leave the South Asian country soon, citing fears for her safety.

The delay, driven by a petition to the Supreme Court to review Wednesday’s verdict to release Bibi, came despite fears for the safety of the Christian mother.

Protestors have threatened Bibi, her lawyer, and the judges who acquitted her.

“She has no other option, and she will leave the country soon,” James Masih, her brother, told Dawn.

“She can’t be safe here,” Bibi’s brother-in-law, identified only as Nadeem, also told Pakistani newspaper.

“You know what’s going on outside. We want things to settle down before we go ahead for her release,” Nadeem added, referring to protests.

Saiful Mulook, Bibi’s lawyer, noted that he is facing threats from extremists.

“I think I have absolutely no safety. No security and I am the easiest target … anybody can kill me,” he told Dawn.

Following talks with demonstrators who have threatened to hang Bibi publicly, authorities agreed to bar the mother of five from flying abroad on Friday, the Associated Press (AP) reports.

The Islamist Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) party, which rose to prominence during the recent elections by campaigning on punishing blasphemy, orchestrated the protests across Pakistan, which have been raging since the country’s supreme court acquitted Bibi and ordered her release on Wednesday.

[Friday’s] agreement between the government and the Tehreek-e-Labbaik party was reached in the city of Lahore where Islamists have been rallying since Wednesday when the Supreme Court overturned the 2010 conviction of Asia Bibi for insulting the Prophet Muhammad. Pakistani authorities will now not allow Bibi to leave the country until the Supreme Court makes a final review of its verdict, said provincial minister Noorul Haq Qadri, according to the agreement.

The agreement comes a day after Ghulam Mustafa, the lawyer representing the provincial cleric who filed the initial blasphemy charges against Bibi, petitioned the Supreme Court judges to review her acquittal.

According to AP, the supreme court has yet to schedule a date to take up the petition.

 “Pakistan’s Supreme Court has not been known to reverse its decisions, but court reviews typically take years. Bibi’s ordeal will continue until the review is completed,” AP declares.

Imran Khan, the recently elected prime minister, has urged the thousands of Islamist protesters to respect the supreme court’s decision.

Pakistan has held Bibi since 2009 on years on charges that she defamed Muhammad, an offense that carries a punishment of life in prison or death.

A Pakistani court sentenced Bibi to hang in 2010 for allegedly making “defamatory and sarcastic” comments about the prophet Mohammad after neighbors objected to her drinking water from their glass because she was not Muslim.

Bibi has maintained her innocence throughout her incarceration.</s>The lawyer of Asia Bibi fled Pakistan early Saturday after fearing for his life amid countrywide protests by hundreds of radical Islamist hardliners against the acquittal of the Christian woman who was sentenced to death for committing blasphemy , media reports said.Bibi, a 47-year-old mother of four, was convicted in 2010 after being accused of insulting Islam in a row with her neighbours. She always maintained her innocence, but has spent most of the past eight years in solitary confinement.Her lawyer Saiful Malook claimed that he was facing life threats from sections of lawyers and it was difficult for him to practice in the prevailing situation, the Express Tribune reported.He, however, clarified that he would return to Pakistan to represent his client at the hearing of the review petition if the army provided him security."My family is also facing immense security threats and the federal government should provide security to them," Malook said.It was not immediately known as to which place he was headed for in his bid to evade life threats and how long would he stay there.Meanwhile, the complainant in the case, Qari Muhammad Saalam, has requested the Supreme Court for the early hearing of a review petition against its October 31 order acquitting Bibi, who was booked for blasphemy in 2009.Saalam said Bibi is planning to leave the country and an application has already been filed to place her name on the Exit Control List (ECL).In case this review petition is not fixed, he said, the application/petition shall suffer an irreparable loss and injury.It is learnt that the review petition, which was filed in the Supreme Court Lahore registry, has been transferred to the Islamabad registry where all judges are sitting. A number has also been allotted to the review petition.The legal team of the petitioner expects that the review petition may be fixed for the next week. However, review petitions are rarely heard on a priority basis.Several "lacunas and factual legal contradictions" have been raised in the review petition filed through Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry and Azhar Siddique.Highlighting the "inordinate delay, defective investigation and other technicalities" in the review petition, the petitioner has asked whether these should be made hurdles in dispensation of justice.The petitioner has asked whether the country's top court had jurisdiction to overrule a peculiar fact like the confessional statement of Bibi.He asked whether the apex court met the standards of jurisprudence set in this regard in view of the history as well as Islamic provisions and normal principle of justice with reference to application in blasphemy laws.The apex court's judgement, which was pronounced last Wednesday, triggered protests across Pakistan with protestors led by Islamic political party Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan and other groups blocking major highways and roads in different parts of the country.Educational institutions were closed in many parts of the country. Many universities across Pakistan announced cancellation of papers due to the ongoing tense situation.The mobile phone and internet services also remained suspended in major cities.</s>The lawyer who represented a Christian woman in Pakistan, Asia Bibi recently acquitted of blasphemy, has fled the country to Europe.

Saif Mulook who is still Bibi’s lawyer said he had to flee for his life so that he could continue to represent the woman.

Bibi was sentenced to death eight years ago after being accused of blasphemy by her neighbor whom she got into an argument with.

However, in a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court in Pakintan, Bibi was acquitted and freed to go back to her family, a decision which many Pakistani hardline Muslims had continued to protest.

It is still unclear if Bibi had left Pakinstan but many countries have offered her asylum even as violent protest continue to rage as many demand that she must be executed.

The protests had forced state officials to agree to bar Bibi from leaving Pakistan in a bid to end the protests.

Campaigners described the deal by the state as akin to signing her “death warrant”.

Asia Bibi was convicted in 2010 of insulting the Prophet Muhammad during a row with neighbours, and many are calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty following her acquittal.

Mr Mulook had earlier said that she would need to move to a Western country for her own safety. A number of attempts have previously been made on her life.

Pakistani Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry defended the government against allegations that a deal reached with an Islamist party was capitulating to extremists.

He said the government would “take all steps necessary” to ensure Asia Bibi’s safety.

“They cannot even implement an order of the country’s highest court,” he told AFP before he boarded the plane to Europe.

Mr Mulook said he had decided to leave as it was “not possible” to continue living in Pakistan, adding: “I need to stay alive as I still have to fight the legal battle for Asia Bibi.”

Other Components of the Deal
• All protesters arrested since Asia Bibi’s acquittal will be released, and any violence towards them will be investigated.
• The government will also start legal proceedings to put Ms Bibi on a list which would ban her from leaving Pakistan.
• In return, the TLP is asking its supporters to stop the protests and disperse peacefully.

Asia Bibi is supposed to be released this week according to Pakistani authorities.
According to a pact between Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) and two Federal & Provincial Religious Affairs Ministers of Pakistan, the name of Asia Bibi will be placed on the Exit Control List which would prevent her leaving the country. TLP has already filed a review petition against the verdict of Supreme Court of Pakistan in the Asia Bibi blasphemy case.