Adil Najam
Salman Taseer – Governor Punjab, businessman, media mogul, PPP leader – was gunned down outside a restaurant in Kohsar Market, Islamabad, by one of his own guards. The guard – reportedly, a Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri – was part of the security Elite Force depute assigned to keep Salman Taseer safe gunned down the Punjab Governor with as many as 27 bullets. Later the guard handed himself to the police and said that he had killed Salman Taseer because of his vocal opposition to the Blasphemy Law.
Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri may have pulled the trigger but let us all hang our head in shame today because Salman Taseer was killed by the intolerance, the hatred, the extremism, the vigilantism, the violence and the jahalat that now defines our society. He was killed by the unchecked abundance of false sanctimony where custodians of morality have been breathing fire and instigating violence. Each one of us, including his own party, should be ashamed today for having tolerated the pall of intolerance that has eventually gunned down this man. Today’s Pakistan is defined by Mumtaz Hussain Qadris. They exist all around us. And it is all of us who tolerate them and their intolerance. It is this tolerance of intolerance that kills.
Today, it claimed yet one more victim.
Just as one example of many that we should have been paying heed to already, it was less than a month ago that a dispicable man in Peshawar was publicly offering money to anyone who would murder in the name of the blasphemy law. The news flashed on the media. Was highlighted in disgust by those like us. Yet, no action was taken; indeed, not even note was taken by those in power. It was ignored as mere ‘josh i khitaabat’ and emotionalism. It was obviously more. The tragedy is that there are too many like this man. Are people like him not responsible for spreading hatred and the results of that hatred? People instigating violence. People celebrating violence. People supporting violence. All of these people are responsible for Salman Taseer’s death. As are all of those who have stood silent and let these merchants of violence sell their wares. (Full story here).
At one level the details of what exactly happened in Islamabad today are less important than what we have allowed to happen in our societies for all the years that have led to this day, but for those who may not have seen the (still developing) details, here is an update from Dawn:
Gunmen killed the governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, a senior member of the ruling party, in Islamabad on Tuesday, his spokesman said. “Yes, he has died,” said the spokesman for Salman Taseer. Police official Mohammad Iftikhar said Taseer was gunned down by one of his elite security force protectors. Five other people were wounded as other security personnel responded to the attack. Police said earlier Taseer had been shot nine times and wounded near his Islamabad home in the F6 sector and close to Kohsar market, a popular shopping and cafe spot frequented by wealthy Pakistanis and expatriates.
Another police official, Hasan Iqbal, said a pair of witnesses told the police that as the governor was leaving his vehicle, a man from his security squad fired at him. Taseer then fell, while other police officials fired on the attacker. In recent days, as the People’s Party has faced the loss of its coalition partners, the 56-year-old Taseer has insisted that the government will survive. But it was his stance against the blasphemy laws that apparently led to his killing.
Interior Minister Rahman Malik told reporters that the suspect in the case had surrendered to police and told them he killed Taseer because “the governor described the blasphemy laws as a black law.” Taseer was believed to be meeting someone for a meal, Malik said. Other members of his security detail were being questioned, Malik said. The security for Taseer was provided by the Punjab government. “We will see whether it was an individual act or someone had asked him” to do it, Malik said of the attacker.
I agree 100% with “A Muslim” that “No one is allowed in this world created by ALLAH to change the LAWS made by ALLAH”
This is exactly why these Mullahs who are trying t o change the rules of Allah and impose their own shaitani man-made laws and nonsense in the name of religion must be resisted. Every mullah is in fact committing shirk by trying to become the thekedar of what is true Islam. Specially the people supporting the blasphemy law – which has no basis in the laws of Allah and was written by clerks in Zia’s government – are really quite evil because as “A Muslim” rightly points out they are not allowed to change the laws of Allah and yet that is exactly what they are doing.
@Adnan
Adnan please try to put this above your conflicts with your favourite scapegoats, i.e. ‘liberals, ‘seculars’ and ‘leftists’. Can’t you see what is happening? Do you really think it matters which group you belong to? By all means, condemn whichever other incident you want to condemn but at least TRY to condemn this murder as well.
It could have been you, me or anybody else in this murder as these people don’t seem to care much who they kill. What will you do when somebody (God forbid) comes after you?
I will simply say that No one is allowed in this world created by ALLAH to change the LAWS made by ALLAH.
qoom ul munafiqeen, zalmeen, and mufsideen. Allah will deal with these yazeeds.
Mentioning Yazeed, It’s interesting to note that Shias declared Dr.Israr Wajibul Qatal because He revealed a truth about Ali(RA) that he was drunk while standing up for Imamat. I hope shias must refrain making such comments when there is offical extremism in their faith.
@Eidee Man,
I think, going by the blogspace, it looks like there is at least significant number of people disgusted by what happened to Taseer. It is hard to talk about the percentages though.
But on the whole, the society has reached such a point that I am despairing now more than I had despaired even when Benazir Bhutto was killed. At that time, I thought, the tyranny of the military rule was ending and the new parliament would at least provide at least some sense of participation to people. However, because of too many reasons that is not so. I will leave that discussion for some other time. Right now, it is ‘what needs to be done’.
The answers, to me, are not simple of course. I have thought about many scenarios and came to some conclusions. I admit, mostly in early stages. Some quick thoughts here:
1) Making peace with India at the minimal acceptable level at the earliest possible date.
2) Getting the hell out of WOT and ending dependence on American dollars while, at the same time, ensuring Americans leave Afghanistan and no Al-Qaida takes over there.
3) Giving Pakistan to the UN in a trusteeship to be governed by the UN GA/SC members input, thus dissolving the existing political and military dynasties (and they are not just the usual ‘feudal’ kinds, btw) to be replaced by some foreigners. Perhaps the British Raj again!
4) Breaking up of Pakistan into ‘confederate’ States, something along the line of the Southern Confederacy (no slaves though!) or even Mujib’s 6-points in the then E.Pakistan.
5) Forming of a national govt. with an Ata Turk like strong man, backed by the might of the military, for 2 decades, to be supported international players, to reform the infrastructure in every sense–starting with the education.
Now, I know these are jumbled thoughts. Some of them are in direct opposition to others and that is fine by me. I am thinking out aloud. I am brainstorming everything. But I feel backed up to the wall and know that the ‘evolution’ to democracy approach I espoused barely 3 years ago is not going to work in the hell-hole that Pakistan has become. I mean, if you had only 2-3 outspoken prominent leaders in a country of 170 millions and one of them killed then you know that the battle–nay, the war, should be to salvage what we can to provide something better for the 170 million somehow. What we have is not going to work. Not with what we have to work with.
Drastic measures require equally drastic measures.