Well, as events have moved on and the days have passed, we see how things're now transpiring in Pakistan...-and folks, it ain't a particularly pretty picture; but at least it's not judgment unmixed with mercy...thus far, anyhow...
But shame on Pakistan's new Prime Minister, one-time international cricket star/Pakistani captain Imran Khan...for responding to mob pressure (the three-some days of sitdown strikes and street protests throughout the land) and thus achieving an effective 'lose-lose' result for all concerned...
To (attempt to) compel Aasiya Noreen and family to remain in the country whilst an horrific death threat from/by ten million odd of her/their fellow citizenry hangs over her/their head/s like the fabled Sword of Damocles...is a very cruel thing indeed...
That P.M. Khan is not willing - doesn't have enough moral fibre in his bones...as would an Indira Gandhi (or a Golda Meir, *for that matter) - to stand up and 'call their bluff' (though sadly the vast majority are doubtless not kidding, but are deadly in earnest, or rather in deadly earnest or purpose), yes, even at the risk of his own life (yes, some things really do matter more than one's very life even), is a sad commentary on the present-day moral vacuum in positions of leadership worldwide ...and especially in staunchly Islamic lands (like Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Middle East ...just for starters...).
And no, I don't blame Aasiya's (ultimately successful) lawyer for fleeing the country...and I hope (BBC etc) reports (today) are true that she - and her family - have managed to now as well...-and good on that Government minister who's vowed to defend her and her people if they do remain in the land...though I'd suggest he too (and numerous others involved, such as the relevant judges) depart ipso pronto as well...for their very lives may well depend upon it...
*Yes, there were female leaders of a previous generation (or several), and they were ones - much like Margaret Thatcher (whatever one thought of her policies or personality) - who had a certain steel in their bones...and who knew the meaning of decisiveness and had true, deep convictions...**even if they almost cost them their lives...or, in Gandhi's case, did see her (and her son Rajiv, down the track) lose her life ultimately for that sterling character/those inimitable moral qualities...
**But arguably the roll call of history is ***almost endless when it comes to great people, especially political and religious leaders, prophets and true saints...cut down - usually in their very prime - by the assassin's pistol/bullet...for those lacking the force of good argument ever and always resort - in the final analysis - to a weapon that will thereafter forever seek to silence their fiercest and ablest critics/foes. But they forget or fail to realize that these moral giants 'being dead, yet speak'...
...into subsequent, succeeding generations, often for time and memorial...
***A 'Beginner's List/Roll of Honour would have to include Socrates...Indira Gandhi...Mahatma Gandhi...Martin Luther King...Malcolm X (as a transformed individual)...Robert Kennedy...'JFK'...
...and a historical roll-call of saints and martyrs and witnesses for Jesus innumerable...towering head and shoulders above all others being Jesus the Christ, the Co-Creator and Saviour of the World.
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