Pakistan - Taseer’s murder case - Justice delayed

The mysterious vanishing of important record pertaining to Governor Salmaan Taseer’s murder case has made the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC’s) work more difficult. The case files were reportedly available in the record during 2011 and 2012 when the case was being heard. However, it went missing after the IHC fixed the case for hearing last week. The case has been lingering on for almost four years. Already the reluctance of prosecutors to fight this case and a persistent opposition from the members of a specific community have made the dispensation of justice difficult. Governor Salmaan Taseer’s assassin Mumtaz Qadri has been successful in winning the support of people with extremist thoughts.

His supporters include a large number of activists from banned outfits. The propaganda was seeded in the minds that Salmaan Taseer had committed blasphemy while the fact is quite the opposite. The only fault of the Governor was that he had raised his voice for a poor Christian woman Aasia Bibi who was convicted of blasphemy. An atmosphere is being created in the name of religion and the accused is taking the benefit of this specific mentality created by some clerics through their self-conceived explanation of Islam. They have already held rallies and protests for Qadri’s release without any court trial. Under such circumstances, the file going missing seems a part of the attempts to pervert the course of justice. It seems the office of the Advocate General is within the access of these extremists. However, according to the law officers, all the record can be reproduced except the anti-terrorism court judge’s verdict. Now only will is required for taking this case to its logical end.

The dissemination of justice should be ensured at all costs in this case. On the part of the judiciary, by dealing with this case in a fair and transparent manner, the court can prove that the Pakistani judicial system is not weak and it can still deliver. Already, the formation of military courts is the result of the perception that the process of disposing of terror-related cases is impossible for civil courts. So the open-and-shut case of Mumtaz Qadri, who murdered Governor Salmaan Taseer in broad daylight in the presence many eyewitnesses, also falls in the category of terrorism. The course of justice should prevail and the hearing of this important case should be held on day to day basis. The government should facilitate the court officials in the provision of all the necessary record. Sincere efforts are needed for the delivery of prompt justice in this clear murder case.