Report
 
Taseer’s murder exposed deep fissures within society
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January 14, 2011
The murder has visibly divided the Pakistani society into ‘liberal and conservative’ elements, and everybody is busy debating the issue according to his/ her own acumen and understanding. A very careful and prudent approach to this frighteningly serious issue is direly needed, by all Ulema, analysts, politicians, civil society, and political analysts, as any carelessness could ignite a civil war over this explosive issue.
On 4th January 2011, Governor Punjab Salman Taseer visited his neighboring Kohsar Market in Islamabad, along with his friend for lunch. After partaking his lunch, the moment he stepped out of the restaurant, one of the guards in his entourage opened a burst of automatic fire with his sub-machine gun on him. The Governor, sustaining severe injuries, fell to the ground and finally succumbed to his fatal wounds. The elite force guard responsible for the act then laid down his weapon, and offered himself for voluntary arrest, immediately announcing that he had killed a blasphemer.

The news of the murder spread like a wildfire, followed by heated debate on global and national fora. Whether the murder, based on controversial blasphemy was justified or not, only timely investigations would reveal, it nevertheless opened a Pandora box of discussion regarding implementation and practice of Constitution of Pakistan, role of Higher Courts regarding free and fair justice, our attitudes and social standings. A blasphemer is by all means subject to death, but the mystery as to whether this was an extra-judicial murder or a deserving death for a blasphemer remains to be investigated.

Many logical questions arise regarding the issue: did the killer refer to any Court of law in order to discern as to whether the Governor was proved and declared in legal verdict as a blasphemer, or any legal formality was fulfilled. There is no difference of opinion regarding Blasphemy among any of the schools of thought, yet is anyone justified to commit murder under the excuse of Blasphemy, taking law into his own hands, as such?

Islam is known for its peace and forbearance, while such virtues have totally evaporated from our society as such, and we are sinking back into the abyss of intolerance, barbarism and extremism, from which our own Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) relieved us after his historical struggle. And how is the person, who commits a murder under a mistaken or an outright deliberate motive, going to face God Almighty on the Day of Judgment?


God has clarified as such that anyone who kills a person, kills the entire humanity. And all this storm, the Apex Court, which struggles for and speaks about provision of cheaper and speedy justice, bringing back laundered wealth, prompting restoration of Constitution and Judiciary, seems quite over the issue. The Apex Court should be questioning the killer as to why did he bypass its highly and legally placed verdict and injunctions, taking law into his own hands.

Ulema, who often fire up their Holy decrees without any credible verdicts or proofs, should be questioned about the legal standing of Malik Qadri’s act committed on the premise that the deceased Governor had committed blasphemy.

The elite police guard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri who murdered Salman Taseer was a religious fanatic and an extremist who took the step devoid of any logic, as it turned out that he had been provoked by a cleric against whom investigations are underway. As the investigations move ahead, sources have further informed that as such, he was quite unfit for VIP security duty. This was compounded by the fact that he had already been declared a misfit for training. He is known to have planned the whole thing well in advance with great meticulous care.

The murder has spurred deep concerns about security not only among higher officials and politicians, but also among Ulema who deploy private /official guards for their protection, as these hired guns can commit murder with relative ease under any pretext whatsoever.

The murder has visibly divided the Pakistani society into ‘liberal and conservative’ elements, and everybody is busy debating the issue according to his/ her own acumen and understanding. A very careful and prudent approach to this frighteningly serious issue is direly needed, by all Ulema, analysts, politicians, civil society, and political analysts, as any carelessness could ignite a civil war over this explosive issue.

The society, already devoid of logic, reason, and patience, is unfortunately fast evolving as a mob, heading towards a bloody confrontation. It is replete with extremists and fanatics, who want to stop people like the deceased Salman Taseer from offering resistance against any misuse or misinterpretation of the Blasphemy Law. Most of these unsuspecting and illiterate/half-literate persons are easily drawn into the lap of extremism due to rampant unemployment and poverty. This facilitates external / internal anti-Pakistani elements already looking to draw maximum flak on us.

It’s high time that the society set a joint course of reformation and ended this simmering controversy.


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