Salmaan Taseer: Remembrance, justice and blasphemy

EDITORIAL : Daily Times

Yesterday, the second death anniversary of Governor Salmaan Taseer was commemorated with prayers and civil society candlelight vigils. The memory and sense of loss of a larger-than-life Taseer has not abated with time. If anything, his absence is even more keenly felt by his family, friends and colleagues. Commemorations are usually occasions for casting a glance back over the life of the departed. In this case, a brief resume is sufficient to point to Salmaan Taseer’s considerable accomplishments. A self-made successful businessman, media entrepreneur, fighter for democracy and a progressive Pakistan, Taseer was murdered in cowardly fashion by his police guard, Mumtaz Qadri in brutal fashion on January 4, 2011 in Islamabad. The cause of his martyrdom was the stand Taseer took on behalf of a poor Christian woman, Aasia bibi, falsely accused of blasphemy to take revenge for a minor altercation with her accusers. Unfortunately, the religious lobby and parts of the media distorted Taseer’s position that the blasphemy law, subject to much abuse over the years, should be revisited to safeguard people against false accusation. This led some overly eager electronic media anchors to paint him as a blasphemer himself. A deranged police guard infected with extremist ideas did the rest. No one in the religious lobby or the guilty media persons have been taken to task for instigation to murder. The murderer was garlanded by those so-called guardians of the law, the lawyers who saw Qadri as a hero rather than the villain he is. The self-confessed murderer was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court, but the judge had to flee abroad with this family because of threats to his life. It may be recalled that a judge of the Lahore High Court who acquitted two Christians accused of blasphemy was murdered in the past. Qadri’s case is in appeal before the Islamabad High Court, where the wheels of justice are grinding exceedingly slowly. The crazy mindset that led to Taseer’s horrible murder also took its toll of the Christian federal minister for minorities Shahbaz Bhatti. As though all this were not enough, and while the Taseer family was still reeling from the shock of Salmaan’s assassination, his son Shahbaz Taseer was kidnapped in broad daylight from Lahore in September 2011. Far from any salve for their wounds, this new blow devastated the family, which still waits in anguish for Shahbaz Taseer’s safe return. Taseer’s case still awaits justice and closure. The Islamabad High Court should take sympathetic consideration of the family’s agony and put the case on fast track, especially since the confession by the murderer is a matter of record. Personal or one family’s tragedy aside, the murder of Salmaan Taseer should have focused minds on the lacunae that allow the misuse and abuse of the blasphemy law for revenge, material, or other, vested interest. The thousands of people accused, usually falsely, since the blasphemy law was given its present draconian shape, have been the victims of a travesty of justice. Many have been killed by crazed mobs. Recently two such cases emerged in Punjab and Sindh, where a worked up crowd dragged the accused out of police custody, beat and burnt them to death. Can any society that allows and does not stop such madness qualify to be considered civilised? The ulema’s role in this matter has been disappointing. In their zeal to protect the blasphemy provisions, they have lent the law as it stands blind support instead of addressing its by now well documented abuses. The Rimsha Masih case saw a cleric indulging in false accusation of blasphemy against a challenged 14-year-old Christian girl by doctoring evidence. Neither has the political class covered itself with glory here. Some brave souls in some of the political parties in parliament have attempted to either repeal or revisit the scope for abuse and lack of safeguards against false accusation, which often leads to death at the hands of vigilante mobs, but all too soon buckled under pressure from the religious lobby. The requisite political will and consensus to address an obvious travesty that has led to so many tragedies is conspicuous by its absence. Salmaan Taseer may be gone, but his legacy lives in the continuing struggle for democracy, a progressive society, and returning Pakistan to the destiny envisaged for it by Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. On this cold and gloomy day, this is the only spark of hope left behind by the sorely missed departed. RIP, Salmaan Taseer, we salute you, your sacrifice, your life’s struggle, and hope this serves to inspire new generations of fighters for the people of our crisis-ridden beloved country.