In the name of God, you are dead – by Amir Mir
When Punjab Governor Salman Taseer stepped out of the Table Talk restaurant in Islamabad, after having lunch with his hotelier friend Sheikh Waqas on January 4, he was most likely aware of the possibility of religious extremists lurking around the corner. But what Taseer could not have imagined is that a religious extremist dressed in uniform of the Elite Force of the Punjab Police, brandishing an AK-47, one of those very men who had been assigned to protect him from the rage of Islamists, could get him.
As Taseer approached his car, a cry of ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ echoed in the air. It was in fact Malik Mumtaz Qadri, his bodyguard, who fearlessly proceeded to empty the magazine of his AK-47. As Taseer stumbled and collapsed, Qadri reloaded the rifle and sprayed another round of 30 bullets. He then placed the rifle on the ground and surrendered to the other 11 bodyguards. The remorseless mowing down of an already dead Taseer reflects the depth of Qadri’s hatred. The inaction of other bodyguards, even in the gap between two rounds of firing, speaks of the silent support for Qadri among the posse of bodyguards.
For the dead Taseer, it could hardly be a recompense to recall what he told the Herald magazine two years ago: “I remember the late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, saying history is written in the blood of martyrs”. Martyr Taseer now is to the cause of liberal values, to the secularism of the Jinnah brand, to the effort of recovering and restoring to Pakistan its moderate, modern Islamic soul. Taseer was killed, as Mumtaz Qadri was to later tell his interrogators, because of his criticism of blasphemy law and his efforts to secure a presidential pardon for Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman condemned to death for having allegedly committed blasphemy.
But martyr Taseer wasn’t in the eyes of Qadri, who believes the assassination now guarantees him a place in Paradise in afterlife. He isn’t a lonely wolf, a solitary misguided bodyguard, for he confessed to his interrogators that he had informed other bodyguards about his intention to slay Taseer and requested them to desist from shooting him as he would surrender after the murder. “I have been looking for an opportunity to shoot Taseer because I did not want to allow him to live anymore,” one of the investigators quoted Qadri as having told him.
“When I received the official gun in the morning, I immediately loaded and put it on the automatic burst.”
The preliminary inquiry has revealed that Qadri was associated with Dawat-e-Islami, a religious group belonging to the Barelvi school of thought. The FIR in the Taseer murder case says the assassination took place with the assistance and conspiracies of religious and political factions. The murder was committed within days of a countrywide strike by religious parties against a possible government plan to amend the controversial blasphemy law, often exploited to settle scores, grab property, and persecute those who don’t share the outlook of obscurantist mullas.
In the days before the countrywide strike, some religious extremists had named Salman Taseer a blasphemer for springing to the defence of Aasia Bibi after meeting her at Sheikhupura Jail. Not accustomed to debating religious issues or countenancing challenges to their stifling theocratic worldview, Tehreek Namoos-e-Risalat, an alliance of religious parties backing the blasphemy law, threatened they would launch a prolonged agitation should President Asif Zardari decide to grant pardon to Aasia. They also demanded the removal of Taseer from the post of governor of Punjab. This goal was achieved through the bullets Qadri sprayed on Taseer.
However, that was not the end of the story. What irked most to those in mourning was the behaviour of the Lahore High Court lawyers when they kissed Qadri’s cheeks, showered him with roses and patted his shoulders for carrying out an act of courage, while he was presented in the court. A page was opened on Facebook praising Qadri, and when the website blocked access to it, several sites surfaced elsewhere on the Internet, supporting Qadri and defending the blasphemy law.
Even Taseer’s bullet-ridden body awaiting funeral became a symbol of the schism between the liberal and orthodox sections of the society.
Hours after his assassination, over 500 Deobandi and Barelvi religious scholars praised Qadri for his brutal act, urging people to boycott the funeral ceremony of the ‘blasphemer’. Even the prayer leader of Lahore’s Badshahi Masjid declined the administration’s request to lead the funeral prayers. A PPP Maulana ultimately led the prayers. Even rallies were organised in parts of Punjab to celebrate the death of Taseer.
Days before his assassination, Taseer, who was a nephew of celebrated poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, tweeted forebodingly: “I am under huge pressure to cow down before the rightist pressure on blasphemy. The extremists are giving me threats, they are using the name of Islam, they want to bring their own brand of Islam but I don’t give a damn…even if I am the last man standing”. His Facebook status reads: ‘R.I.P. Lion of the Punjab Salmaan Taseer (31 May 1944 – 04 Jan 2011)’. His web page lists his favourite quote as ‘How can a man die better than facing fearful odds, for the honour of his country and the temple of his gods’.
Source: The News, 8 Jan 2011
Shaheed Salman Taseer tujhay Surkh Salam !!!!!!
As student of History and politics of Pakistan; one can easily see what is happening in the name of Islam. Exploitation of religion for the nefarious and outdated tactics of establishment. Pakistani establishment has old strategy to use Taliban as a defense shield and using them to mess around the region; now they are pressurized by American to start operation in North Waziristan which is so far is the save heaven for Taliban (so called good Taliban (ready to be used in Afghanistan ) . In the current situation when Pakistani establishment is assessing that the America has to be back off from Afghanistan soon and these puppets will play their game over there, the importance of so called good Taliban has been increased. Now look this situation with the American pressure to start operation in N. Waziristan to counter this pressure only way left for our policy makers to replay what they did in 2001. That is gather all religious parties together , dishonor political forces (although they are implementing establishment policies) and control the situation.
Pakistan history tell use religious parties never start any movement without the support of Armed forces. Now how comes all of a sudden JUI, JI and JUP became so active while few months back, JUI was supporting those elements who designed and implemented the suicide attacks on shrines of Data durbar and Mazar of Abdullah shah Ghazi while JUP was cursing them for their actions. JI was nobody and waiting for the signal from establishment. Now they have started their game by killing Salman Taseer in order to give mullas one platform. as I said it is beginning and nation should be ready for lot of miseries in near future.
Down to evil and dark forces i.e. mullas,Generals and their touts.
The upper class secularist minority in Pakistan has always express contempt toward the public and their religious beliefs, however in the past, what the secularist minority said or did in their enclaves Defence, Model Town etc. and in their media such as English language newspapers etc. was not known to the people, now with growth in the media, the people are becoming more and more informed about the alien mindset of their overlords. Salman Taseer’s murder is a natural result of this.
Taseer was a blasphemous individual who, in his interviews to the BBC and various other media outlets disparaged Islamic laws and punishments mentioned explicitly in the Quran. Taseer wasn’t courageous at all, he was someone who reveled in the fact that everyone hated him, from the ordinary PPP workers to the people of Punjab but were powerless to remove him from his post because of his personal friendship with Zardari. He thought that he could provoke the masses and his wealth, power and alliance with the west would protect him from the people’s wrath. He was wrong.