The saga surrounding perhaps the most open-shut high profile murder case in the history of Pakistan continues, much to the horror of most level-headed citizens in this country.
Salmaan Taseer, former Governor of the Punjab, was pumped with bullets and killed by a member of his own security team on January 4th, 2011.
The killer then confessed to his crime and stated for the record that he had killed the Governor for being a blasphemer.
Since then, an ATC (anti-terrorism court) sentenced Qadri to death, and the appeal against his conviction was heard in Islamabad on Wednesday.
There is no reasonable line of defence that Qadri’s counsel can use, and the tragedy is that of this they are painfully unaware as they throw in argument after argument in favour of the blasphemy law, a law that by its very existence, violates the law of the land.
What is increasingly shocking is that part of Qadri’s main counsel is Justice Khawaja Muhammad Sharif, former Chief Justice of the Lahore High Court.
Scenes of the winter morning in 2011, when members of the judiciary openly hailed Qadri as a hero, kissing him and welcoming him with rose petals, are haunting reminders of the rot inside our system and our national ideologies.
At the hearing, Qadri’s counsel argued that the accused was an honest policeman with no criminal record, and thus could not be tried by an anti terrorism court.
Clearly, they have not received a copy of the Protection of Pakistan Act.
There seem to be no free passes for first time terrorists.
At best, the Taseer murder case could be a turning point for the blasphemy law in Pakistan.
Side by side, it is an excellent measure of real public narratives and real public mindsets.
Our judges are not only fallible, their consciences are positively corrupt and one fears to think of the many thousands of judgements they passed in their hey day, sentencing men as the fairest minds in the land.
Men who have come back from retirement only to fight for a murderer as brazen as Mumtaz Qadri, who have declared that they are fighting the case only for “heavenly reward,” have no place in any civilised justice system.
At every hearing, pro Qadri members of Pakistan’s honourable judiciary turn out in droves to support their man.
It is time to see the “silent majority” rise to the occasion within and outside the legal system.
Fear cannot be an excuse, as the entire country fights against extremism and terrorism.
Everyone is scared; but some things are just too great not to fight for.
Judiciary, all eyes on you.
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