It has been eight years since Salmaan Taseer was assassinated. The fact that Asia Bibi remains under lockdown even after the highest court in the land exonerated her from all charges of blasphemy indicates who holds the real power here in democratic Pakistan.
For as the previous year drew to a close, Khadim Rizvi emerged as the man of the moment and more. His Tehreek Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) had, after all, successfully reinvented itself as a legitimate political force; with two seats under its belt in the Sindh Assembly, no less. Hardly a poor show for a party that came into being to revere a murderer. Especially one that had all too readily been written off as an oddity; not in it for the long and a threat to none. Yet in an apparent bid to honour just how far Rizvi and the Labbaik boys had come — Prime Minister Imran Khan granted them their heart’s desire. And just like that Asia Bibi — the poor and illiterate Christian farm worker who spent the last nine years behind bars for confessing to blasphemy while a flash-mobbing and violent crowd bayed for her blood — was not released in accordance with the Supreme Court (SC) ruling. As an additional travesty, the ruling PTI caved into the illegitimate demand the latter review its own judgement. Had this been another time or place, the Centre might well have faced contempt of court. Thus the subsequent booking of the TLP big boys and their supporters for terrorism and treason carries reduced significance when incitement to religious hatred and murder are absent from the charge-sheet.
The government has been left considerably weakened and the preachers of bigoted hatred strengthened. And while Rizvi and his gang did not fire a single shot this time around — these turn of events underscore how the religious right have long ended the pretence of relying on faith or scholarly debate to win the fight. On display instead is an open admission of adopting violence towards this end; as these actors persecute their way to power and relevance.
It goes without saying that the aforementioned symmetry of events should have lent itself to haunting remembrance. Of Salmaan Taseer; a man who sacrificed his life in the struggle for Asia Bibi’s release and deliverance of justice. The memory of this ought to now appear before the incumbents as their very own Banquo’s ghost. Looming forever large as they approach international forums to protest western efforts to caricature wounded Muslim sentiment. For the late Governor Punjab and publisher of this newspaper understood better than most that incitement to religious hatred does not cease to be just because it targets a minority faith. And that some blood can never be washed away.
Of course, it would be unfair to blame the PTI alone for what has come to pass. The PPP, too, must shoulder some of the burden. For the party wavered on the question of amending the country’s draconian blasphemy laws. That being said, most progressive voices were and continue to be sitting targets. This includes Shahbaz Bhatti, a sitting federal minister who was also fatally targeted over the shared conviction that legislative reform was urgently needed. For one cannot observe the sacrifice of Governor Taseer without that remembering that of Minister Bhatti. Not least because of the devastation suffered by the entire Christian community here in Pakistan following the assassination of these two remarkable human rights defenders.
That no government of the day has demonstrated sufficient courage to ensure that these lives were not lost in vain means that minority communities continue to live in fear. It is thus imperative that lawmakers across the political divide honour Taseer’s legacy and reform legal structures to make Pakistan a safe place for all its citizens.
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