When furious protestors gathered around Pakistan late last month in the wake of Asia Bibi’s acquittal for blasphemy, a senior police officer visited the Islamabad slum of France Colony.

It might be best, the policeman advised, if the mainly Christian residents closed their shops, went home and laid low in case there was trouble.

As the decision sparked off nationwide protests that brought the country to a halt for three days, the slum’s new church was closed and services cancelled, while the congregation warily watched the demonstrations unfold.

More than a fortnight after Mrs Bibi, a Catholic farmhand, was acquitted of defaming the Prophet Mohammed, she is still hiding in legal limbo, awaiting…

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