Adil Najam
Report from News (21 February, 2007):
A fanatic shot dead Punjab Minister for Social Welfare Zill-e-Huma Usman “for not adopting the Muslim dress code” at a political meeting here at the PML House on Tuesday. A party worker caught the accused, Maulvi Sarwar, and handed him over to the Civil Lines Police. Huma was at the PML House to hold an open Kachehry. As she was busy meeting the PML women activists, the accused sitting in the audience approached her with a pistol and pumped bullets into her head from a point-blank range… The accused, M Sarwar Mughal – popularly known as Maulvi Sarwar – is a resident of Baghbnapura in Gujranwala. Two police stations of Gujranwala and the Tibbi police of Lahore had booked Maulvi Sarwar for the murder of six women, but he was acquitted for want of sufficient evidence. His alleged spree of killing “immoral” women started in the year 2002. In his confession statement before the police on Tuesday, he said he was opposed to women holding public office. He added that after he read in the newspaper that the minister was holding an open court, he decided to kill her.
Sometimes you just wonder why! Sometimes you just want to give up!
I have been feeling sad and numb and down and dejected all day. I heard about the brutal murder of Punjab Minister Zile Huma Usman’s murder by a crazed fanatic some 10 hours ago. And I have been in utter shock.
I have tossed and turned. I had thought earlier that I would not even write about it. What is the use? When a society goes so mad that a woman is killed just because she is a woman, what can a blog post do. Just ignite more silly debates; more childish heckling; more immature point-scoring; trying to show how smart you are; or, more likely, trying to show how idiotic others are; reaffirming your own belief that you are always right, and everyone else is always wrong; single-track chest thumping; self-righteous finger-pointing. No remorse. No compassion; not a word of sympathy; not a shred of caring. All there is, is anger; getting high on our own anger; anger for its own sake; getting so very angry that you even forget what or who you are angry at.
But now I do want to write about this. We, as a society, have some serious thinking to do.
What killed Zille Huma Usman? Not religion. Not madness. But anger. Uncontrolled anger.
A society that seems to be fueled by anger. No conversation is seen to be legitimate unless it is an angry conversation. And the solution to everything seems to be violence. ‘Kill the infidels’ say the believers. ‘Kill the mullahs’ shout the modernists. ‘Hang them by the gallows.’ ‘Put them in boats and let them sink.’ ‘Death is what they deserve.’ We have heard it all right here. I suspect we will hear it again. That dastardly, self-righteous anger. This violence in the language, as Zille Huma so tragically found, becomes the violence of bloodshed all too easily. Today it was in the name of religion. Tomorrow it will be something else.
So, do me a favor folks. Give her some dignity. Hold your anger. Think about what happened. Ponder. And pause. For the sake of whatever is sacred to you; please pause!
An innocent woman’s life has already been taken by our inability to put a lid on our passions and our anger. Let us please not make a tamasha out of her death by making her a poster child for whatever ’cause’ we are parading for right now.
There are so many issues pertinent to this case that one feels at a loss about where to start. It has been two days since this gruesome murder yet there have been no statements from Mr. Enlightened Moderate himself! Can the President or the Prime Minister not even have the courtesy to strongly condemn such a heinous crime against one of their own (female) provincial ministers? What kind of image is being portrayed to the world by their inaction? By not speaking out forcefully on crimes against women, especially those in leadership positions, aren’t they emboldening other misogynists/religous zealots and discouraging other Pakistani women from entering public life?
Can the nation, especially the female population, expect a statement from their manly, commando President which states the following?
— All crimes against women in the name of religion or culture are reprehensible and will be punished fully under law.
— No person has the moral or legal authority to harass or hurt women because they disagree with the way they dress or behave.
— Women will be encouraged to take leadership positions in government and will be provided the best security and freedom of movement.
The Federal minister for Religous Affairs, the pious Ejaz-ul-Haq, should show some character and condemn this act of violence as repugnant to Islam. Maybe he can show some of the same symbolic gestures that he recently did in laying the bricks of an illegal building after pressure from militant madrassahs. The minister should order the madrassahs that teach his ‘religion’ in Pakistan, to educate their wards on the constitutional status of women and condemn any violence or discrimination against women.
The people should ponder over these issues and press the goverment to investigate this case from all angles:
— Where and how did this criminal procure a gun?
— Which organizations did he affiliate himself with and where did he learn about his misogynistic views on women?
— How did he manage to remain free after confessing to multiple murders in the past?
— Amend the Qisas and Diyat laws (abolish them!) for letting violent and repeat criminals go free.
Mr Quraishi, can you please give us a link or email address for Letters to the Editor for your news paper?
Yasser, I look forward to your email.
[quote post=”583″]There are plenty of arguments within Islam against such mindless violance[/quote]
Aqil, it’s not the arguments within Islam that matter; it’s the contradictions within Islam that do. For every Ayat/Hadith that I find extolling peace, someone else can find two encouraging violence. That’s where the lack of central religious authority (such as the Church) really hurts us and will continue to do so until as a nation we move away from the literal interpretations of Quran and Hadith and find and focus on a central message of Islam based on values rathers than dogmas.
Has any of the ‘religious’ politicians expressed regret over this incident? After all these are the people who advocate ‘maar dahar’ in the matters of religion.
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@Eidee Amin, I don’t know which film you are talking about; I must have missed that. But in any case, we can try doing what you asked to do. Assume that I’m your Pakistani audience; can you tranlate or transliterate Shireen’s anecdote into terms that are suited for me? How would that change anything? I would be very interested to know.[/quote]
I was talking about something totally different…and it’s not worth re-opening now. Btw, maybe I’m dyslexic but your name’s resemblance to Adil Najam’s still cracks me up :)
I was just reading the WOmens day post and thought of this woman and how in her death and in the discussion after her death she was abused by those who think they are teh rakhwallahs of everyone’s morality