Beyonce, Bollywood, Hillary as India's richest daughter weds

Yahoo – AFP, December 12, 2018

Isha Ambani was set to wed Anand Piramal in the Ambanis' 27-storey home
in Mumbai (AFP Photo)

Topping anything in hit film "Crazy Rich Asians", the only daughter of India's richest man ties the knot Wednesday after days of lavish celebrations that included a Beyonce concert in a lakeside palace.

Isha Ambani, whose father is tycoon Mukesh Ambani, was set to wed Anand Piramal, son of Indian billionaire industrialist Ajay Piramal, in the Ambanis' 27-storey home in Mumbai.

Days of pre-wedding festivities at a sprawling palace in Udaipur in the desert state of Rajasthan included a concert by Beyonce, purportedly the bride's favourite singer.

Attendees included Hillary Clinton, former US Secretary of State John Kerry and dozens of Bollywood stars including Salman Khan and Aamir Khan as well as cricket superstar Sachin Tendulkar.

Joining them was a who's-who of India's super-rich elite, arriving on dozens of specially chartered flights into Udaipur's normally sleepy airport and whisked away in expensive cars.

Attendees at pre-wedding festivities in the desert state of Rajasthan included 

Hillary Clinton (AFP Photo/Handout)

Actress Priyanka Chopra and American singer Nick Jonas, who themselves became husband and wife earlier this month, were also guests at Udaipur's City Palace on the banks of Lake Pichola.

Wednesday evening's actual wedding was set to be a more private affair with around 600 close friends and family, and some politicians, expected to be on the guest list.

There was a high police presence in the south Mumbai area around the Ambanis' home, which is called Antilia and reportedly cost over $1 billion when it was completed in 2010.

Indian newspapers have been abuzz with speculation about the total cost of the wedding. Conservative estimates have put it around $15 million while others insist $100 million is closer to the truth.

Ambani, 27 and Piramal, 33 got engaged at Lake Como in Italy in September and the high-profile wedding brings together two of India's biggest industrialist families.

Mukesh Ambani is the chairman of oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries. He is worth more than $47 billion and recently overtook China's Jack Ma as Asia's wealthiest man.

The respective families will hold several other receptions across India's financial 

capital in the coming days (AFP Photo/Handout)

The respective families will hold several other receptions across India's financial capital in the coming days.

The wedding caps a big month for what social media users have been calling "big fat Indian weddings". The Chopra-Jonas nuptials came shortly after Bollywood stars Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh wed.

Not everyone is happy though.

"Isha Ambani's wedding is a perfect example of the wealth inequality in India," wrote one Twitter user.

"Here you have one of the richest families in the nation spending so much while millions still can't even afford food or shelter," she added.

"The new standard for lavish Indian wedding is Beyonce. Imagine," tweeted another.

Maldives applies to rejoin Commonwealth: president's office

AFP – MSN, 9 Dec 2018 

Solih took office last month after winning a landslide election victory (AFP)

The Maldives has applied to rejoin the Commonwealth, reversing a policy of isolation under autocratic leader Abdulla Yameen who suffered a shock defeat in September.

His successor, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, wrote to the 53-member bloc on Friday seeking readmission two years after Yameen pulled the atoll nation out of it, the president's office said Sunday.

Yameen withdrew the Maldives, an archipelago of 340,000 Sunni Muslims, from the Commonwealth after it mounted pressure on him to protect human rights and ensure the rule of law amid a ferocious crackdown on dissent.

Solih's office said the new president's administration believed in the values of the bloc, which consists mainly of former territories and colonies of the British empire.

"The Maldives' interest in re-joining the Commonwealth stems from a deep conviction that the values and principles enshrined in the Commonwealth Charter are more vital than ever," the president's office said in a statement.

The 54-year-old took office last month after winning a landslide election victory despite Yameen waging a crackdown on his political rivals and jailing most of the opposition.

The former British protectorate faced persistent international pressure during Yameen's iron-fisted tenure. The strongman accused the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat of interfering in the nation's affairs.

During Yameen's reign, the United States had repeatedly warned democracy was under serious threat in the strategically-located archipelago sitting on key international shipping lanes.

Since Solih's election, political prisoners have been freed and opposition figures in exile have returned home.

Solih has warned of a "dire" economic crisis in the Maldives and asked regional power India for help. Yameen had drifted closer to China and the Maldives saw its foreign debt balloon under his leadership.

Pakistan will no longer fight someone else's war: Imran Khan

France24 – AFP, 7 Dec 2018

Khan has long been vocal about Pakistan's role in the war on terror Khan has
long been vocal about Pakistan's role in the war on terror. Islamabad (AFP)

Pakistan will no longer act as a hired gun in someone else's war, Prime Minister Imran Khan said Friday, striking a note of defiance against US demands for Islamabad to do more in the battle against militancy.

Khan -- who also reiterated his backing for a recent push by the US for talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan -- said in a televised address that he wants Pakistan to move forward with "honour".

"We will no longer fight someone else's war, nor will we bow down in front of anyone", the former cricketer said.

Islamabad joined Washington's "war on terror" in 2001, and says it has paid a heavy price for the alliance, which sparked an Islamist backlash and homegrown militant groups who turned their guns on the Pakistani state, costing thousands of lives.

Security has dramatically improved in recent years after a military crackdown.

But the US continues to accuse Islamabad of ignoring or even collaborating with groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network, which allegedly attack Afghanistan from safe havens along the border between the two countries.

The White House believes that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and other military bodies have long helped fund and arm the Taliban both for ideological reasons and to counter rising Indian influence in Afghanistan.

It believes that a Pakistani crackdown on the militants could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the war.

Khan, who has long been vocal about Pakistan's role in the war on terror, said his country wants "peace with all".

"Thanks (God) that today, the same people who were asking to do more are now asking us to help them in Afghanistan, to establish peace and to negotiate," he said.

More than 17 years after the US invasion, Washington has stepped up its bid for talks with the resurgent Taliban with a flurry of recent diplomatic efforts.

This week the Pakistani foreign ministry said Khan had been sent a letter by US President Donald Trump seeking Islamabad's support in securing a peace deal.

In the letter, Trump said a settlement is "his most important regional priority", the Pakistani foreign ministry stated.

"In this regard, he has sought Pakistan's support and facilitation", it continued.

Trump's letter was followed by a visit from US envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has said he hopes a deal can be in place before the Afghan presidential elections, set for April next year.

Pope to visit United Arab Emirates in February

Yahoo – AFP, 6 December 2018

Pope Francis, seen here at the Vatican, has already visited several
Muslim countries, including Turkey, Azerbaijan and Egypt

Pope Francis, who has made boosting ties between Christianity and Islam a cornerstone of his papacy, will visit Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates in February, the Vatican said Thursday.

The pontiff was invited to the majority-Muslim country by both Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan and the local Catholic church.

Francis will take part in an international "interfaith" meeting during the trip, which will run from February 3 to 5.

The 81-year old has already visited several Muslim countries, including Turkey in 2014, Azerbaijan in 2016 and Egypt in 2017.

The Vatican said the theme for the Abu Dhabi trip was summed up in the phrase "make me a channel of your peace" -- a quote from Saint Francis of Assisi, the pope's namesake.

The hope was the visit would "spread in a special way the peace of God within the hearts of all people of good will," it said.

"This visit, like the one to Egypt, shows the fundamental importance the Holy Father gives to inter-religious dialogue," spokesman Greg Burke said.

"Pope Francis visiting the Arab world is a perfect example of the culture of encounter," he added.

The UAE prides itself on its religious tolerance and cultural diversity, and most Gulf Arab states have long allowed Christians to worship in churches.

Nearly 80 percent of the population of the UAE is Muslim, while Christians constitute around nine percent, according to the Catholic News Agency.

Many of the Catholics are workers from Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and the Philippines, though some are locals.

The UAE trip will come head of a visit in March to Morocco.

Pope Francis moved quickly after his election in 2013 to make overtures to Jews and Muslims, inviting two old friends from Buenos Aires -- a rabbi and a Muslim professor -- on a trip to the Middle East where he condemned religious hatred.

Chess tournament moved from Saudi after Israelis barred

Yahoo – AFP, December 4, 2018

Participants attend the King Salman World Rapid and Blitz Championships, the
first international chess competition held in Saudi Arabia, in the capital Riyadh
on December 26, 2017 (AFP Photo/STRINGER)

Jerusalem (AFP) - A World Chess Federation tournament has been moved from Saudi Arabia to Russia after concerns over Israeli players being barred, the federation announced Tuesday.

Israeli players backed by a New York-based NGO, The Lawfare Project, were threatening legal action over not being allowed to play in Saudi Arabia, which has no diplomatic ties with the Jewish state.

The federation, known as FIDE, said it decided to move its World Rapid and Blitz Championships scheduled for December 25-31 to Russia "due to the policy adopted by Saudi organisers".

The decision was made "in spite of the generous financial offer made by Saudi Arabia", FIDE said in a statement.

"FIDE will no longer stage its official events in the countries that deny entry visa and fair treatment to all the eligible players," it said.

It added that "officials in Riyadh could not guarantee an entry to representatives of all the national federations who had a right to participate in the event".

It is not the first time Israeli players have raised such concerns.

In December 2017, the Israel Chess Federation said it was seeking compensation from the organisers of last year's World Rapid and Blitz Championships, also in Saudi Arabia, after the Gulf state refused to issue visas for its players.

But Israel has made headway in past months in its efforts towards ties with Arab nations in the Gulf that do not officially recognise the country, including through sport.

In October, Israeli Sports Minister Miri Regev toured the UAE's famed Sheikh Zayed mosque, Israel's communications minister delivered a speech in Dubai and the Israeli national anthem was played at a judo competition in Abu Dhabi.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also paid a surprise visit to Oman in October.

Suu Kyi to be stripped of freedom of Paris award: mayor's office

Yahoo – AFP, 30 November 2018

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo decided to revoke Aung San Suu Kyi (pictured 

November 14, 2018) of herh onorary freedom of the French capital because of

 the "multiple violations of human rights" in Myanmar regarding the Rohingya minority

Paris city will strip Aung San Suu Kyi of her honorary freedom of the French capital over her failure to speak out against a crackdown on Myanmar's Rohingya minority, a mayor's spokeswoman said Friday.

Mayor Anne Hidalgo decided to revoke the honour because of the "multiple violations of human rights recorded in Myanmar and the violence and persecution by Myanmar's security forces against the Rohingya minority," the spokeswoman told AFP.

The move, which follows similar decisions by Glasgow, Edinburgh and Oxford, would make Myanmar's de facto leader the first person to lose the freedom of the French capital, a purely symbolic award.

The move will be finalised by the city council at a meeting in mid-December, the spokeswoman said.

Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi, once feted as a democracy icon in the mould of Nelson Mandela for leading opposition to Myanmar's military junta, has fallen out of favour in the West over her inaction in the face of the crackdown on the mostly Muslim Rohingya.

More than 700,000 Rohingya fled violence in the Buddhist-majority country last year, mostly to neighbouring Bangladesh.

A UN rights team found evidence of widespread murder, rape, torture and arson and called for top generals to be prosecuted for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Hidalgo's office said the mayor wrote to Suu Kyi late last year to "express her concern and call for respect for the rights of the Rohingya minority", but that the letter went unanswered.

Suu Kyi's supporters argue that she has no powers to rein in the army.

She has already been stripped of her honorary Canadian citizenship and her Amnesty International's "Ambassador of Conscience Award".

Top S. Korea court orders Japanese firm to pay out over forced labour

Yahoo – AFP, 29 November 2018

Kim Sung-joo (in orange), a victim of forced labour by Japan, cheered in
reaction to the court decision

South Korea's top court on Thursday ordered a Japanese heavy industries giant to pay compensation over forced wartime labour -- the latest in a series of decisions to strain ties between the two neighbours.

South Korea and Japan are both democracies and US allies faced with an increasingly assertive neighbour China and the long-running threat of nuclear-armed North Korea.

But their own ties have remained icy for years by bitter disputes over history and territory stemming from Japan's brutal 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean peninsula, with forced labour and wartime sexual slavery key examples.

According to official Seoul data, around 780,000 Koreans were conscripted into forced labour by Japan during the 35-year occupation, not including the women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops.

Among those forced to work at the factories for Japanese firms, six survivors filed a lawsuit against The Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 2000 seeking compensation.

Seoul's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that the firm should pay each of the plaintiffs unpaid wages or compensation worth about 80 million won ($71,197).

The same court, in a ruling on a similar, separate case on Thursday, also ordered Mitsubishi to pay compensation of 100 million to 150 million won to a group of five people for forced wartime labour at its plants.

Many said they had been tricked by their Japanese teachers at elementary schools into going to Japan to "study" but were instead forced to work at Mitsubishi plants producing aircrafts with no or little pay for years.

Both of the two groups filed lawsuits in Seoul after Japanese courts had dismissed their claims seeking compensation.

Japan says the victims' right to sue had been extinguished by the 1965 treaty which saw Seoul and Tokyo restore diplomatic ties and included a reparation package of about $800 million in grants and cheap loans.

But recent court rulings in Seoul -- including Thursday's rulings -- argued that the forced labour for Japanese firms was not included in the controversial treaty.

The Supreme Court late last month ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to pay compensations worth 100 million won to four people over forced labour during World War II -- a decision that drew anger from Tokyo.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono slammed the latest rulings he described "extremely regrettable and totally unacceptable" and demand that Seoul take "immediate actions to remedy such breach of international law."

"Above all, the decisions completely overthrow the legal foundation of the friendly and cooperative relationship that Japan and... Korea have developed since the normalisation of diplomatic relations in 1965," Kono said in a statement.

UN grants sanctions exemption for Korea railway survey

Yahoo – AFP, 24 November 2018

The two Koreas have agreed to start surveys on reconnecting railways across
the border between North and South

The UN Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption for the two Koreas to jointly conduct a survey on reconnecting railways across their border, a spokesman for the South Korean presidency said Saturday.

The two Koreas last month agreed to start the survey no later than late October and to hold the groundbreaking ceremony sometime between late November and early December, as the countries pursue a reconciliation drive.

But the possibility of the project running up against UN sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programmes has caused delays.

"It is significant that this project has received support from the United States and international community", said Kim Eui-Gyeom, spokesman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Railway experts from both sides will criss-cross the country on survey trains together, Kim said in a statement, adding that the process will "bring inter-Korean cooperation to a new level".

Yonhap news agency said the South was expected to bring fuel for train locomotives, and other unspecified materials for the survey in the North.

Delivering fuel to North Korea could potentially have been in breach of a UN cap limiting imports to 500,000 barrels a year.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday any inter-Korean rapprochement had to move forward "in tandem" with efforts to denuclearise the peninsula, and could not come sooner.

US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic summit in Singapore earlier this year, signing a vaguely worded deal on denuclearisation.

But since then, talks on denuclearisation have stalled, with meetings either deemed unproductive, pushed back or cancelled altogether.

The US and South Korea have launched a working group to make sure that they don't "talk past each other", Pompeo said, as Seoul and Pyongyang appear to be moving ahead with their rapprochement more quickly than Washington and the North are making headway on nuclear disarmament.

A second leaders' summit is expected to take place in early 2019, according to Washington.

In the meantime, North and South Korea have made several concrete decisions on reconciliation and exchanges.

But the implementation of cross-border projects such as the reconnection of railways have been hamstrung by the lack of progress in denuclearisation talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) advocates talking to the North's leader
Kim Jong Un to push him to denuclearise (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Seoul earmarks more than $260 mn for rail, roads in North

Two Koreas connect DMZ road across border: Seoul

Yahoo – AFP, 22 November 2018

Pictures handed out by Seoul's defence ministry Thursday showed a South Korean
soldier and a North Korean counterpart taking part in the "recent" roadworks
holding their hands out toward each other, with their colleagues watching

North and South Korea have connected a road across their shared border for the first time in 14 years, Seoul's defence ministry said Thursday in the latest reconciliation gesture between the neighbours.

The dirt road, which is wholly within the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, will be used for joint operations next year to recover remains from the 1950-53 Korean War.

The 12-metre-wide construction of the route in Cheorwon, near the mid-point of the DMZ, is one of several steps agreed at the Pyongyang summit between the South's President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un in September.

The neighbours also pledged to remove bunkers and weapons from the border truce village of Panmunjom.

But Seoul and Washington are pursuing increasingly different approaches to the nuclear-armed North.

The dovish Moon has pursued a policy of engagement with his isolated neighbour, while the US insists pressure should be maintained on Pyongyang until it denuclearises.

Pictures handed out by Seoul's defence ministry Thursday showed a South Korean soldier and a North Korean counterpart taking part in the "recent" roadworks holding their hands out toward each other, with their colleagues watching.

"It is historically significant for the North and the South to open a new passage and jointly engage in operations to recover remains of war dead at the place which saw the worst battles during the war," the ministry said.

Despite its name the area around the DMZ is one of the most fortified places on earth, replete with minefields and barbed-wire fences.

US Secretary of Mike Pompeo stressed this week that Washington wants to "make sure that peace on the peninsula and the denuclearisation of North Korea aren't lagging behind the increase in the amount of inter-relationship between the two Koreas".

Police called on diplomats as APEC summit tensions boil over

Yahoo – AFP, November 18, 2018

Tensions have been high at the APEC summit in Papua New Guinea after a
spat between the United States and China (AFP Photo/PETER PARKS)

Police were called when Chinese officials attempted to "barge" into the office of Papua New Guinea's foreign minister, it emerged Sunday, as APEC summit tensions boiled over.

The Chinese delegates "tried to barge in" to Rimbink Pato's Port Moresby office Saturday, in an eleventh-hour bid to influence a summit draft communique, but were denied entry, three sources with knowledge of the situation told AFP.

"Police were posted outside the minister's office after they tried to barge in," one source privy to summit negotiations told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The diplomatic incident came with tensions already high at a summit of Asian-Pacific leaders that has been overshadowed by a spat between the United States and China.

Pato had refused to meet with the delegates, according to a source, who said: "It's not appropriate for the minister to negotiate solo with the Chinese. The Chinese negotiating officials know this."

The minister himself sought to downplay the incident, telling AFP: "There wasn't an issue."

Asked about the incident, Chinese foreign ministry official Zhang Xiaolong told reporters: "It's not true. It's simply not true".

APEC nations usually agree a joint statement but officials are struggling to bridge deep divides on trade policy and admit that a formal communique may not be issued.

This is not the first time Chinese officials have been involved in a tense incident at a regional meeting.

At the Pacific Islands Forum in September, Nauru's president demanded China apologise after its delegation walked out of a meeting when the host refused to let an envoy speak until island leaders had finished.

"They're not our friends. They just need us for their own purposes," President Baron Waqa said at the time.

Map of Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, locating main venues for the APEC summit @AFPgraphics pic.twitter.com/OZEEvW5ba9

— AFP news agency (@AFP) November 18, 2018

RSF honours female Asian journalists for courage under fire

Yahoo – AFP, Robin MILLARD, November 8, 2018

Some 63 journalists, 11 citizen journalists and four media assistants have been
killed so far in 2018, including Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi,
according to RSF (AFP Photo/Geoffroy VAN DER HASSELT)

Two Asian women won Reporters Without Borders (RSF) Press Freedom Awards on Thursday for their bravery in holding governments to account in the face of persistent threats.

Indian freelance reporter Swati Chaturvedi and Filipina social media campaigner Inday Espina-Varona were honoured at the RSF annual awards, being staged in London for the first time.

Maltese journalist Matthew Caruana Galizia, who has carried on the work of his mother Daphne, murdered for exposing corruption on the Mediterranean island, was also honoured at the ceremony at the Getty Images Gallery.

Established in 1985 to defend and promote press freedom, Paris-based RSF has been presenting its yearly awards since 1992.

Previous winners include the late Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo, imprisoned Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and the Turkish newspaper Cumhuriyet.

Chaturvedi won the Prize for Courage, awarded for journalism in a hostile environment.

She has faced online harassment campaigns after exposing what she calls a "troll army" operating for the governing Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"I get a dozen death threats every day and around 15 to 20 rape threats," she told AFP.

"The whole idea of a democracy is that you are allowed to have a dissenting view.

"Unfortunately, the way politics has panned out across the world, journalists are really under threat.

"It is sad that you are called courageous just for doing your job."

Sexist attacks

Veteran journalist Espina-Varona founded a social media women's rights campaign in response to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's comments on women.

"After a particularly hard-hitting column, I find 50 to 80 private messages calling me a liar, an ugly woman, and mostly these are sexist attacks," she told AFP.

"The slurs don't really bother me but the threats that say 'we know where you live, we'll see if you are as brave as you think' -- that bothers me because it also happens to other journalists."

She won the Prize for Independence, awarded to reporters for resisting pressure in carrying out their work.

"Independence is very important for citizen journalism. I teach young people to be critical minded and I hope this award will inspire them," she said.

Some 63 journalists, 11 citizen journalists and four media assistants have been killed so far in 2018, RSF said, including Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi, who was murdered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

A total of 55 journalists were killed in the whole of 2017.

Caruana Galizia won the Prize for Impact, awarded for work that has led to an increase in awareness of journalistic freedom.

His mother, Malta's pioneering anti-corruption blogger, was assassinated in a car bomb attack in October 2017.

'Fight for the right thing'

"It's a recognition that what we're fighting for is right," he said of the award.

"It's about continuing to fight for the right thing: justice for my mother and for her stories. Everything else will follow.

"Hope is a word for people who have already given up."

He said Malta could and should become a functional European Union democracy that did not have to rely on investigative journalism as the last remaining line of defence.

However, "its toxicity will spread" throughout the EU if partners including Britain and France did not join the fight.

Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder remains unresolved.

Ninety percent of violent crimes against journalists go unpunished, said RSF.

Afghanistan is currently the world's deadliest country for journalists, with 14 killed this year.

"The alarming number of deaths is a reminder of the urgent need to provide journalists with more protection," said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire.

Some 168 journalists, 150 citizen journalists and 19 media assistants are in jail, the organisation said.

RSF's 2018 World Press Freedom Index ranks the worst five countries for journalists as China, Syria, Turkmenistan, Eritrea and North Korea, which came last at 180th.

Pakistan PM Khan calls for calm as protests erupt after blasphemy verdict

Yahoo – AFP, Gohar ABBAS, October 31, 2018

Asia Bibi (left) pictured alongside former governor of Punjab Salman Taseer who
was later assassinated for supporting Christian minorities (AFP Photo/HANDOUT)

Islamabad (AFP) - Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan hit out at religious hardliners and appealed for calm Wednesday after extremists called for the country's Supreme Court justices to be murdered for overturning the conviction of a Christian woman facing execution for blasphemy.

Khan, who took to the nation's airwaves several hours after the court ordered the acquittal of Asia Bibi, delivered a forceful call for Pakistanis to respect the verdict which sparked protests across the country.

"They are inciting you for their own political gain, you should not get trapped by them for the sake of the country, they are doing no service to Islam," Khan said in a televised broadcast.

"We will protect people's properties and lives, we will not allow any sabotage, we will not allow any traffic to be stopped," he added.

Blasphemy is an incendiary charge in deeply conservative Muslim Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam and its Prophet Mohammed can provoke death at the hands of vigilantes.

Demonstrations broke out in major cities across Pakistan in the ruling's wake, with club-wielding protesters blocking Islamabad's main highway and barricading roads in Karachi and Lahore.

Hardline religious political parties protested the acquittal of Asia Bibi (AFP

Photo/ARIF ALI)

One of the most vocal groups -- the Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan (TLP) -- called for "mutiny" against the army's top brass and the assassination of the top court's justices.

"The Muslim generals of the army, it is their responsibility that they should launch a rebellion against these generals," Afzal Qadri -- a TLP leader -- told supporters in Lahore.

For hours the acquittal was met with near silence on the country's airwaves as broadcasters appeared to steer clear of covering the controversial topic.

Khan, who has previously caused concern with his full-throated defence of blasphemy laws during his recent election campaign, vowed on Wednesday to hit back against hardliners inciting violence, saying the inflammatory rhetoric would only benefit "Pakistan's enemies".

Protection detail?

Bibi was set to be released immediately according to the court, although there was no word if any security arrangements were being made for her protection.

Her legal team celebrated amid beefed-up security in Islamabad.

"The verdict has shown that the poor, the minorities and the lowest segments of society can get justice in this country despite its shortcomings," Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told AFP.

"This is the biggest and happiest day of my life."

Bibi's lawyer Saif-ul-Mulook told AFP 'the verdict has shown that the poor, 

the minorities and the lowest segments of society can get justice in this country 

despite its shortcomings' (AFP Photo/AAMIR QURESHI)

Bibi appeared to be in a state of disbelief after hearing that Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar had quashed her conviction nearly eight years after she was first sentenced to death.

"I can't believe what I am hearing, will I go out now? Will they let me out, really?" Bibi told AFP by phone from prison after the ruling.

"I just don't know what to say, I am very happy, I can't believe it."

Her case drew the attention of international rights groups and swiftly became the most high-profile in the country.

Pope Benedict XVI called for her release in 2010, while in 2015 her daughter met his successor and the current head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis.

Freedom for Bibi in Pakistan, where university students have been lynched and Christians burnt in ovens over blasphemy claims, means a life under threat by hardliners, who regularly hold demonstrations calling for her execution.

The allegations against Bibi date back to 2009, when Muslim women she was labouring with in a field objected to sharing water with her because she was Christian.

After an argument, the women went to a local cleric and accused Bibi of blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammed, a charge punishable by death under colonial-era legislation.

Long-criticised law

During the appeal hearing on October 8, a three-member panel of Supreme Court justices appeared to question the case against her, with Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, considered Pakistan's top expert in criminal law, listing flaws in the proceedings.

Bibi was set to be released immediately according to the court (AFP Photo/ARIF ALI)

"I don't see any derogatory remarks vis-a-vis the holy Koran as per the FIR," added Chief Justice Nisar, referring to the initial complaint filed in the case.

Approximately 40 people are believed to be on death row or serving a life sentence in Pakistan for blasphemy, according to a 2018 report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Rights groups have long criticised the legislation, saying it is routinely abused to justify censorship, persecution, and even the murder of minorities.

In recent years, it has also been used to smear dissenters and politicians.

Mere calls to reform the law have provoked violence, most notably the assassination of Salmaan Taseer, the governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, by his own bodyguard in broad daylight in Islamabad in 2011.

His assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was executed in 2016 and has been feted as a hero by hardliners, who built a shrine to him just outside the capital.

Taseer had also called for Bibi's release and his son Shahbaz tweeted "Pakistan Zindabad" ("Long live Pakistan") following the ruling.