by Raza Habib Raja
Around 4 30 today, I received a call from my friend while sitting in the office informing me about the murder of Salman Taseer by one of his security guards. Besides informing me about the tragic episode he also warned me not to condemn the murder and more importantly not to criticize blasphemy law openly as fanaticism has really seeped into the society. He reminded me that when such a powerful figure such as Salman Taseer was not able to survive how ordinary people like us could remain safe. The words of my friend are an exact reflection of how much we have descended into madness and also on the virtual absence of state’s writ when it came to religious inspired violence.
I have heard a number of times that in Pakistan the religious parties hardly get any vote and that their appeal is in the fringes and therefore Pakistan would ultimately come out of this self reinforcing circle of hate and violence. However, I beg to differ here. Religious fanatics do not need mass support to execute their agenda. They are not trying to bring Islam through electoral process. All they need is a critical mass and a few impressionable men and women who are willing to die. This is all what is needed to ensure that anyone speaking against bigotry and misuse of religion is exterminated. And considering the fact that those who speak against controversial religious laws and tools of oppression are very few in numbers, it becomes alarmingly easy task to make a horrible example of them. Salman Taseer was punished for his outspokenness and for calling the current form of Anti Blasphemy law, a Black law.
His murder also shows that you do not even need to hatch a deep conspiracy to make an impressionable young man do the unthinkable. You just need freedom to breed and spread hatred which in a twisted way emanates out of extraordinary reverence of Islam. When people (rather pests) like Amer Liaquat are given full freedom to preach violence for the protection of honour of the Holy Prophet, frankly what happened today will by no stretch of imagination be just a one off event. Let’s not forget that a year ago, some of our “brave” Muslims burnt some Christians alive on similar “sin” of blasphemy and Ahmedis were also killed.
Every country and society has some heroes whose deeds are glorified so that the young can hopefully emulate them. In a society where Ilm-ud-Din has been made into a legend and a “Shaheed” rather than being called a murderer, murder of Salman Taseer is hardly a surprise. Mumtaz Qadri, in his head was going to Heaven and on his way to attaining the same legendary status when he fired shots at Salman Taseer.
The incident has shown that we need to reevaluate freedom of expression and the way it is regulated. Why do we allow the perpetuators of the religious propaganda to breed freely? Why do we try to narrate story of murderers like Ilm-ud-Din in a consecrated manner? By such narrations, we may not be converting the entire population into fanatics but nevertheless a critical mass is getting radicalized. And all what the hardliners need is that critical organized mass which is ready to even adopt violence.
Salamn Taseer even within his own party was an exception. He was one of the very few individuals who dared to out rightly criticize the blasphemy law and his opposition was coming at a time when even the Prime Minister had started to appease the hardliners. If and only if, all the moderate elements had supported Salman Taseer openly instead of bracketing his point of view as merely “personal”, at least concrete signals would have been given to the hard line elements.
Every grave accident also gives us an opportunity to have a look at the situation. Right now despite everything, I can still sense horror in many people. There are many who have been shocked and are realizing that things are really spiraling out of control. For God sake let’s rescue ourselves from this hatred. Let’s try to understand that religion is a way to connect with God, it should not be allowed to be misused to inflict bigotry. For the workers of PPP who are out on the street and registering their protest, my advise would be to direct it at the religous fanatic parties rather than Punjab Government. We need that anger to be rightly directed. Democratic forces need to unite here. Leaders of two mainstream parties, PPP and PML (N), need to come up with some sort of a united front instead of indluging in third class political point scoring.
To all others , for God sake let’s show collective courage. Majority is still moderate but totally helpless in front of an organized militant religious minority. And let’s not try to make heroes out of murderers like Ilm-ud-Din. We need a new set of heroes and ideals.
Around 4 30 today, I received a call from my friend while sitting in the office informing me about the murder of Salman Taseer by one of his security guards. Besides informing me about the tragic episode he also warned me not to condemn the murder and more importantly not to criticize blasphemy law openly as fanaticism has really seeped into the society. He reminded me that when such a powerful figure such as Salman Taseer was not able to survive how ordinary people like us could remain safe. The words of my friend are an exact reflection of how much we have descended into madness and also on the virtual absence of state’s writ when it came to religious inspired violence.
I have heard a number of times that in Pakistan the religious parties hardly get any vote and that their appeal is in the fringes and therefore Pakistan would ultimately come out of this self reinforcing circle of hate and violence. However, I beg to differ here. Religious fanatics do not need mass support to execute their agenda. They are not trying to bring Islam through electoral process. All they need is a critical mass and a few impressionable men and women who are willing to die. This is all what is needed to ensure that anyone speaking against bigotry and misuse of religion is exterminated. And considering the fact that those who speak against controversial religious laws and tools of oppression are very few in numbers, it becomes alarmingly easy task to make a horrible example of them. Salman Taseer was punished for his outspokenness and for calling the current form of Anti Blasphemy law, a Black law.
His murder also shows that you do not even need to hatch a deep conspiracy to make an impressionable young man do the unthinkable. You just need freedom to breed and spread hatred which in a twisted way emanates out of extraordinary reverence of Islam. When people (rather pests) like Amer Liaquat are given full freedom to preach violence for the protection of honour of the Holy Prophet, frankly what happened today will by no stretch of imagination be just a one off event. Let’s not forget that a year ago, some of our “brave” Muslims burnt some Christians alive on similar “sin” of blasphemy and Ahmedis were also killed.
Every country and society has some heroes whose deeds are glorified so that the young can hopefully emulate them. In a society where Ilm-ud-Din has been made into a legend and a “Shaheed” rather than being called a murderer, murder of Salman Taseer is hardly a surprise. Mumtaz Qadri, in his head was going to Heaven and on his way to attaining the same legendary status when he fired shots at Salman Taseer.
The incident has shown that we need to reevaluate freedom of expression and the way it is regulated. Why do we allow the perpetuators of the religious propaganda to breed freely? Why do we try to narrate story of murderers like Ilm-ud-Din in a consecrated manner? By such narrations, we may not be converting the entire population into fanatics but nevertheless a critical mass is getting radicalized. And all what the hardliners need is that critical organized mass which is ready to even adopt violence.
Salamn Taseer even within his own party was an exception. He was one of the very few individuals who dared to out rightly criticize the blasphemy law and his opposition was coming at a time when even the Prime Minister had started to appease the hardliners. If and only if, all the moderate elements had supported Salman Taseer openly instead of bracketing his point of view as merely “personal”, at least concrete signals would have been given to the hard line elements.
Every grave accident also gives us an opportunity to have a look at the situation. Right now despite everything, I can still sense horror in many people. There are many who have been shocked and are realizing that things are really spiraling out of control. For God sake let’s rescue ourselves from this hatred. Let’s try to understand that religion is a way to connect with God, it should not be allowed to be misused to inflict bigotry. For the workers of PPP who are out on the street and registering their protest, my advise would be to direct it at the religous fanatic parties rather than Punjab Government. We need that anger to be rightly directed. Democratic forces need to unite here. Leaders of two mainstream parties, PPP and PML (N), need to come up with some sort of a united front instead of indluging in third class political point scoring.
To all others , for God sake let’s show collective courage. Majority is still moderate but totally helpless in front of an organized militant religious minority. And let’s not try to make heroes out of murderers like Ilm-ud-Din. We need a new set of heroes and ideals.
beyond simplistic notions of blaming a generic mullah
If you have read Skeptical mian and particularly FRK sahib very closely lately, you will observe that they have done just that.
Regards
Let’s not delude ourselves. Soon the cadre uwas recruited during Zia ul-Haq’s rule would gain control of the Army. These would be a lot more Islam-pasand than even the current ones.
One is deluding oneself, if one thinks that there will be support from the Armed Forces for the Pakistani Liberals. None of it is going to be forthcoming. Now that one bodyguard has seen how much praise Mr. Mumtaz Qadri is getting, every bodyguard would look for ways to earn similar praise AND money.
Pakistan did not want to touch Hafiz Saeed after Mumbai 26/11, let’s see what Pakistan can do about Mr. Qadri. I don’t expect him to be punished. There will be many copycats.
Once the suicide bombings started, there was no stopping them. The case is similar. Now the Islamists feel emboldened. Now they will come after the ‘Liberal’ politicians. Where will the politicians hide? They are so much dead meat!
Pakistani antagonism towards India didn’t necessarily have to lead to the embrace of jihadis and extremists as foreign policy which is now consuming Pakistan internally. For example, Pakistan instead could have done a South Korea or Taiwan.
Asking Pakistan to make peace with India is like Salman Taseer trying to amend the blasphemy laws. **However**, moving to a different and more productive expression of enmity is certainly feasible.
http://www.rediff.com/news/report/punjab-governors-killer-a-holy-warrior-say-pak-clerics/20110105.htm
Contrary to your opinion,Pakistanis(atleast a large number of them) do realise the mess thay are in and the reasons for it(Arab influence,oil money,American connection,mullahs etc etc)but sometimes getting out of the mess is a lot messier and harder than we think…it might get a lot worse before it gets better.:(
take this line “What do you think that taunting and making fun of islam will reform them?” the clear answer is YES! Shock therapy enmasse within Pakistan is what is required. The moderates of pakistan haven’t the intestinal fortitude to stand up and fight the islamists. This ridiculous need to protect the religion as something beyond reproach only fuels the bravado of the fundos. It is no silent opposition…it is silent compliance when you don’t stand up and fight. How many one-man marches are being organized for decrying the fundamentalism in pakistan? How many thousands are attending? It is the quom!!!!!!
“A leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party’s ‘ulema’ or clerics wing led Taseer’s funeral prayer on Wednesday afternoon after several leading clerics of Lahore, including the imams of the Data Darbar shrine and the Shahi Masjid, refused to do so.
The cleric of the mosque at the Governor’s House, who is a Barelvi, refused to lead the prayer, sources said.
—
The clerics said in a statement issued on Tuesday night, “There should be no expression of grief or sympathy on the death of the governor, as those who support blasphemy of the Prophet Mohammed are themselves indulging in blasphemy.”
Hailing Malik, the clerics said he had killed Taseer for calling the blasphemy law a ‘black law’.
Hailing the ‘courage and zeal’ of Qadri, the clerics and scholars said his action had made all Muslims proud.
The statement issued by the Jamaat-e-Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan was endorsed by the grouping’s ‘ameer’ or chief Syed Mazhar Saeed Shah Kazmi. It was also endorsed by over 500 scholars and clerics like Allama Syed Riaz Hussain Shah, Shah Turab-ul-Haq Qadri and Pir Ghulam Siddiq Naqshbandi.
Those ‘favouring the person who indulged in blasphemy are themselves blasphemous’, the scholars and clerics said in the statement.
Paying tribute to Taseer’s assassin and his courage, the statement described Qadri as a lover of the Prophet Mohammed and a Ghazi or Islamic warrior.
Qadri had “revived the 14-century-old traditions of Islam” and made Muslims around the world proud, it said.
The clerics and scholars asked intellectuals, ministers, politicians and media personalities who oppose the blasphemy law to learn a lesson from Taseer’s death.
These personalities should “save their faith by announcing that they would desist from attempting to amend the blasphemy law,” they said.
be jihadis or
fight jihadis
pick one…I say pick the last one…
What about the drones, isn’t that what they were going to do….. Perhaps what is really needed is for Pakistan to be governed for Pakistan and not the U.S. or Islam…… The drones kill without trial or even offensive statement..! Do you think the killing of Drone victims is just? If so then you debase justice and will reap the justice you sew…
["Qadri had “revived the 14-century-old traditions of Islam” and made Muslims around the world proud, it said..."]
The world is rapidly progressing towards the next century while these self-righteous actors seem bent on hijacking an entire nation back to the 14th century! What Muslims around the world are proud? This shocking level of ignorance intoxicated with fervent hyper-religiosity that celebrates the needless taking of life is most certainly a growing existential threat – not just to Pakistan! Difficult times lie ahead.
All we need now is for an alchoholic prostitute killing poet to label the killer of Salman Taseer a ‘matchless warrior’ and give more fule to the bigot brigade for decades to come.
Are you referring to Allama Iqbal. He is said to have been indulging in drinking and paying an occasional visit to the kottha.
1. My criticism of Gandhi is not based on any irrational hatred. I keep editing Majumdar’s posts for abuse against Gandhi. My point about Gandhi’s support for Khilafat Movement is valid and will remain valid. It was the original starting point for the domino effect of religious fundamentalism. Majlis-e-Ahrar and Jamiat e Ulema Hind emerged from that … and incidentally these parties were also opposed to Pakistan’s creation. That said Gandhi’s assassination was a great tragedy for the entire subcontinent …. my criticism of Gandhi is on an entirely different plane from BJKumar and other Hindu fanatics who have an irrational hatred for Jinnah.
2. Someone at some point – now edited- suggested that I should take up the case of Mumtaz Qadri because well Jinnah had appeared in appeal for Ilmdin in 1929. This is also nonsense. Ilmdin’s issue was of a young impressionable pot-smoking kid of barely 19 years(unlike Mumtaz Laanti who was 26 years old, trained Elite force guard and a father of two and who acted in cold blood after which he confessed) who killed someone after being riled up and Ilmdin repeatedly claimed in defense that he had not done it. Jinnah was not the trial court lawyer and his defense of Ilmdin was in no way a defence of the barbaric act that the young boy had committed …. and after it was proven that Ilmdin had indeed murdered Rajpal, Jinnah asked for the commutation of death sentence of his client on the grounds that he was 19-20. This I have discussed in detail in my article “Ilamdin fiasco and lies about Jinnah”.
3. There was also a different minority-majority dynamic at work. As for Allama Iqbal… his own son and grandson are opposed to such bigotry. Salman Taseer’s father M D Taseer a renowned leftist poet was also involved in the agitation in favour of Ilamdin.
4. I am not a criminal lawyer… but for what its worth… I will defend in a court of law any Shia or an Ahmadi or a Christian or a Hindu in Pakistan who kills a Sunni Mullah who has inflamed him and provoked him into an act of mindless violence.
Jamil Khan
آخر ہم روزہ رکھنے سے لے کر سورج گرہن کے اسباب جانے کے لیے مفتی منیب الرحمٰن کے پاس کیوں بھاگے بھاگے جاتے ہیں؟
آخر ہمیں کس نے یقین دلایا کہ قوم کی بیٹی ڈاکٹر عافیہ کو بچانے کے لیے قوم کی بیٹی آسیہ کا سر تن سے جدا کرنا ضروری ہے؟
اُسی اِسلام آباد شہر میں جہاں سلمان تاثیر کا قتل ہوا صِرف دو ہفتے پہلے ناموسِ رسالت کانفرنس میں کون کون شامل تھا۔ کیا اُس میں وہ لوگ شامل نہیں تھے جن کے پارٹی منشور میں ہر شیعہ، احمدی، ہندو، یہودی کو قتل کرنے کا عندیہ نہیں دیا گیا۔