Taseer's assassination

Salmaan Taseer's murder has generated considerable debate in the country on how to deal with the rising power of the religious right that openly condones an individual felonious act. While the PPP has claimed its founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's death as judicial murder, yet there is general reluctance to term this latest assassination as an extra judicial murder.
It is extremely unfortunate that two PPP stalwarts, visible as the mouthpiece of co-chairperson of the party President Asif Ali Zardari - Babar Awan and Fauzia Wahab - alleged that the murder of Taseer was politically motivated. During Taseer's life time, the Sharif brothers in Punjab had not hidden their anger and, on numerous occasions, contempt for Governor Taseer's statements as well as his refusal to sign some summaries that required his signature under the Constitution. Thus it surprised no one when statements by Awan and Wahab were followed by other PPP loyalists, implicating senior members of the PML (N) government in the Punjab for Governor Taseer's murder. While there is no evidence of Punjab government's complicity in the murder, yet allegations of not screening his elite guards appropriately are doing the rounds, especially as a senior police officer had already fingered the shooter Qadri as not suitable for the job. In response, the PML (N) sources, on condition of anonymity, have stated that they were relieved that the assassination had occurred in Islamabad, the federal capital, where the Punjab government has no jurisdiction even though security guards were provided by the Punjab government.
What has also been rather disturbing is that Interior Minister Rehman Malik, instead of condemning the murder of Taseer in unequivocal terms made the controversial statement that he would personally shoot anyone who commits blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), thereby side-tracking the critical issue: that in civilised democratic countries, the courts must be the forum where the accused and the accuser present their case and where judgements are rendered. Considering that Rehman Malik was convicted by the court and pardoned by the President, his statement is considered by his numerous detractors as a reflection of a strongly held view that he shares with others in the party that the courts post Iftikhar Chaudhry's reinstatement have exhibited a bias against the PPP.
Other PPP senior leaders, at pains to talk of the blood sacrifice by the party leaders Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and his daughter Benazir Bhutto, have been equally reticent in condemning the act of murder as an action by a man with little regard for the justice system. The reason, many skeptics suggest, is that the PPP stalwarts are unwilling to risk their lives by taking on the wrath of the religious far right.
The only PPP leader, who has made a principled statement is the PPP co-chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is at present resident in the UK as he completes his education: "Those who attack my religion, especially those who corrupt its peaceful message, you are what I call covert blasphemers and you will be defeated. This will be our Jihad....We will defend you (Christians). For those who wish to harm you (Christians) for a crime you did not commit, they will have to go through me first." There is obvious bravado in these words and his youth may explain why he places himself above the country's other institutions notably the parliament that can change laws or the courts; and yet his statement is an acknowledgement of what is generally believed to the raison d'etre for the murder and as such has been the most appropriate statement so far against Governor Taseer's assassin.
The PPP leadership is not alone in not boldly tackling the possible ramifications of Governor Taseer's assassination. Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, the leader of the Opposition, did obliquely refer to it in the National Assembly, though he failed to elaborate: "The assassination of the Punjab governor was a tragic incident that should be condemned but some elements in the PPP have started to turn this incident into a political killing.
Through this political game, they cannot even imagine they are dragging the country into a turmoil and confrontation." True to form he could not resist hurling his own salvo. "But someone who wants to become the governor is fuelling the confrontation and I only advise that it is not the time to give statements like Maula Jat and [Maharaja] Ranjeet Singh." Nawaz Sharif, who was holding a press conference when the news of the murder reached him, made no comment while his brother Shahbaz Sharif stated that the Governor "did not deserve to die the way he did."
Altaf Hussain expressed grief and sorrow over the incident and gave a political slant to the murder when he said, "This is an attempt to bring instability in the country and those involved in the attack are the enemies of the country." And he called for "concrete steps for defeating the conspiracies to destabilise Pakistan".
Meanwhile, rallies have been held by religious political parties, including JUI (F) and Jamaat-i-Islami in support of Qadri. The numbers at these rallies show that there is a significant population in this country that is convinced that the assassination is justified. Coming in the wake of stories that members of the clergy refused to lead the Janaza prayers of the slain Governor, one is compelled to acknowledge that the country has been polarised by this murder: between the far right and the liberals who are distinguishing between blasphemy and the abuse of the Zia-ul-Haq made law that was designed to shore up political support for him of the religious far right.
Laws, however, much one may disagree with any single law, have to be complied with or else there will be chaos. Zia-ul-Haq did enact laws that are the subject of much controversy today, but the fact is that if a sufficient number of legislators want to amend or even repeal a law they can do so. In the case of the Governor's assassination, any claim that he was guilty of blasphemy cannot be a mitigating factor for the subsequent murder. Or in other words charge of blasphemy against the Governor is not proven and with his death is no longer justiciable but the murder is.