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.
OK, i know the situation is depressing and bad, but the doom talk is neither useful nor necessary. The question is what to do. You can see the extremist factions here and in Pakistan gloating over their ‘victory’, the question is what can the rest of us do. This pall of depression only plays into their hands an strengthens them. Also, lets be clear that there is nothing that is easy to do, but of the difficult things what is possible. For example, I think forcing the debate on the Blasphemy law right now instead of taking a back seat is what is needed. Second, I think we need to start outing the extremists in the media. There are also lost of good and moderate people in the media and we need to start by exposing the extreme elements in the media and counter act their claims. Third, we need to not be quiet but confront their arguments everywhere.
I am sure much more can be done, but here is at least a start. What’s your ideas.
Pakistani society is getting what it has earned after courting the devils of intolerance, ignorance, hatred, and violence for many decades. Shame on the masses for never resisting the repression from mullah, government, or Army–they’re spineless cowards!! Today I am ashamed to be a called a Pakistani.
Good news, this murder got nothing to do with the current situation in Pakistan. so all doom and gloom is over reation.
Bad News: had someone insulted the prophet(pbuh) in Pakistan even 50 years ago he/she would have met the same fate.
My prophet PBUH doesnt need a country of fools to save his honor…his honor is not a glass ornament that will shatter nor I can make the whole world respect him or my religion if they dont believe in him or my religion.
His is the honor that is safe and protected in God’s hand and mere humans can’t dishonor him by using some words….but the acts of a nation that calls itself his lover and Muslims have definitely damaged his religion enough by being vile, ignorant and cruel. You want people to respect your religion and if they wont you will scare them, threaten them, kill them…it is your way or the highway.
You are hypocrites who bury their women alive and say it is our tradition even though Prophet (PBUH) put a stop to it but yet you still justify it in the name of tradition and trample all over his practice of loving your daughters….and that is not blesphamy but tradition.
You are the hypocrites who dont let your servants sit at lyour level and eat with you because they are lower than you either because they are Christians (paleet in your language) or poor …you wont sit with your driver and share a cup of tea because he is your servant…yet you claim to love the prophet who had no reservation about things of this matter and disliked discriminating on basis of color, religion and money…Quran talks about these being only your identities and not your measure of closeness to God …yet this happens every day in Pakistan…open desecration of Prophet’s and God’s code of ethics about equality in society and yet this is not blesphamy???
You are such hypocrites that when you go to western countries you want all your rights as minorities, freedom of speech, religion, pardha and building your mosques but you cannot and will not extend this courtesy to your own minorities even though you claim to follow a religion that protected the rights of minorities no matter what
What would you do if Christians in Western countries start to prosecute all Muslims because we dont believe Jesus is a son of God and we say that he is a prophet of God just like Mohammad (PBUH)…by your standards you are committing blesphamy because you are denying their religious belief living in their country….should they be able to prosecute you for insulting Jesus by denying their belief about him.
How many of you think that is a fair punishment under a Christian nation law? because if you have the right to claim that EVERYONE needs to respect your religion so should every other religion….if you live in a Christian/Western country you shouldnt ever say what you dont believe about Jesus because you are insulting Jesus’s status according to Christian religion.
How about if someone blames anyone of you saying you insulted Nabi (PBUH) and you infact hadnt done any such thing but do you think anyone will believe you….your own judiciary system cant help you if some one wants to harm you and this is an easy way to do so….that is why this law is so dangerous because it is unislamic, unGodly and oppressing at best.
Do my prophet and my Islam a favor and stop trying to protect it with your idiotic and ignorant ideas. He doesnt need idiots trampling his legacy anymore than what you have already done.
Go learn to be a human before you even try to be a Muslim…shame on all of you who are justifying this act of murder..shame
@ Adnan
Thank you my lil Shia friend. Thanks. Just like you got angry, similarly others get angry when someone offend The Prophet(saw). Salman Taseer offended The Prophet by supporting the one who was a blasphemer. I am sure that if Asrar was alive, either you or some of your friend would have killed him.
You are such a troll…this person didnt threat to kill you for spreading false lies your mullahs have told you about Ali (AS) but said you will rot in hell with Yazeed….how does that equal killing some one….!!!!
Dr Israr was not killed, he died of natural causes so if your claim about shias would have killed him was true, I wonder why that never came true…surely he had lived long enough for your false claim to come true.
You think you have the only true respect for your prophet…when in fact people like you disrespect him every day by fabricating facts about his life, making up ahadees attached to him and knowingly promote and follow the Imperial Islam of Banu Ummia….
These people who were called munafeqeen in quran because they never let go of their hate for Mohammad (PBUH) and wanted to destroy his legacy and they succeeded because suddenly they were the authority in religion after slaying prophet’s religion and were considered Kalipha until Hazrat Umer bin abdul aziz put (RA) put a stop to the disgrace of holy family.
The history people refer to here about blesphemy is a product of banu ummia not of prophet….and your mullahs and scholars can spew millions of ahadees of how prophet killed people who disgraced him and can twist ayaats in Quran to make lazy people believe that Allah wants them to kill in name of Mohammad (PBUH), people like you commit blesphamy every day but yet you are running amok creating chaos and hate every where
I do believe you and your mullahs will burn in hell with banu ummia in a special spot and the day of justice your faces will be black when prophet will disown you and your Islam because you followed not prophet’s Islam but Islam of his enemies. Still my belief doesnt equal killing you like this murderer killed Taseer….
Quran has asked us to fight people like yourself with all vigor because you are fitna in deen and you and people like you and scholars you follow are the fitna that has destroyed this religion…..that is the Jihad to fight you and people like you and stop you.
Now you can go back to your hole and read some more propaganda your masters are spewing from Saudi Arabia….and i am sure you will come back to put some hateful comments about me too so I can only laugh and day go knock yourself out….those who hate prophet’s family can only claim to love the prophet…and that is just an empty claim….if that rocks your boat…I wish you more power troll