Share this article
Print this page
Email a friend
- RSS
- Today's Paper
- Subscribe
- beta 2.0
High: 32°C
Low: 27°C
Alerts
Mourning Salmaan Taseer
Each one of us needs to stand up and say that we want a society that adheres to the rule of law.
The writer is a lawyer and hosts “24 Seven” on Business Plus ayesha.tammy@tribune.com.pk
Salmaan Taseer was a lot of things to a lot of people, many of whom have articulated their sentiments in columns, obituaries, talk shows and the like. He was a man of many parts, and those parts have not gone anywhere and continue to remind us of the man who remains with us. So how are we going to mourn Salmaan? We have written and said things to comfort his family and ourselves, we have praised his courage and his humanity and vowed to not let his sacrifice go in vain. But what does that mean? Does it mean that we are not made of the same metal? If we can see, acknowledge, appreciate and salute courage and humanity in another, surely we see it in ourselves as well?
It’s not about waking up and being fired by energy and enthusiasm for a short while and then retreating, saying it’s all hopeless; its time to bring that courage and humanity out and let it define not only us but our society. Rather than let fear overtake us and allow us to cede more and more space to those who seek to destroy the world as we know it, we need to take back space already lost. Sounds easy but it’s not, it means overcoming fear, a real and palpable fear, it means finding leadership or becoming a leader, it means being counted — not one or two but in the millions.
We need to redefine the debate. Surely it’s not about liberals versus the rest? Do conservatives believe it’s perfectly all right to take the law into your own hands and do as you will, when you don’t agree with someone else’s point of view? I think not, and the sooner we all realise that every one of us, liberal, conservative, left wing, right wing, PPP, PML-N, religious or secular, is in danger, the better. If the response to having an opinion is not another opinion but a hail of bullets, we all better be worried. Worried enough to realise that we need to find that thread of commonality that will allow us to function as a society.
Lives have been taken over religion, politics, lifestyles, and even over the choices we make in life, like our partners. These are taken arbitrarily and usually by those seeking to enforce their own personal writ. If we are to live by the writ and at the pleasure and whim of another, then what is the use of a state, a constitution, a set of rules by which society is organised. Raising our walls and arming ourselves may be some temporary stopgap measure but by no means will it provide the solution.
It is time we realised that for there to be rule of law, for it to have any effect and enforceability, it must apply to all and it must apply equally. There can be no exceptions, for that is where the power game begins, as those who want to control the rest of the populace think it necessary to keep themselves above the rest and to control power structures.
So how are we going to mourn Salmaan Taseer? Will we let everything go back to the way it was before, or will we acknowledge that we have a problem and work on a minimum common agenda, which surely must be that the state has a responsibility to protect all its citizens, to provide them with basic facilities like education and health care, to devise a foreign policy that cuts across party lines and to agree that we need to create jobs and revive the economy. Putting aside our petty squabbles and personal agendas may be a tall order, but a minimum agenda, that acknowledges that one’s own survival is dependent on it, may actually work.
Each one of us needs to stand up and say that we want a society that adheres to the rule of law; that we, too, can make sacrifices and learn to live within the law so that the ultimate sacrifice made does not go in vain.
In the end, it is about being willing to live by what you believe. As Salmaan used to say, “kuch shehr dey log ve zalim si, kuch sanoo maran da shawk ve si”.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 21st, 2011.
Read more:
taseermurder
Reader Comments (22)
Latest News
Nationalists’ point of views: Muzaffar Bhutto laid to rest while his murder raises more questions
Dr Qadir Magsi asks for Supreme Court judicial commissions to investigate Muzaffar’s murder and attack on AT rally.
Acid survivors to sue Obaid-Chinoy
Claim they never consented to release of documentary in Pakistan.
Security situation: Cabinet panel to probe assault on Karachi rally
Another panel to look into Balochistan situation; MQM skips session.
Balochistan unrest: Apex court issues ominous warning
CJ warns of state of emergency if PM doesn’t take steps to improve law and order in Balochistan.
Reaction: No basis for Dr Afridi’s detention, says US
Pakistani government asked to pardon and release Dr Afridi, or else face further aid cuts, says US lawmakers.
Recent Slideshows
More in Opinion
Shameful surrender
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, redistributed or derived from.
Unless otherwise stated, all content is copyrighted © 2012 The Express Tribune News Network.
Technical feedback? webmaster@tribune.com.pk
Pakistan is run on a tripe A (AAA) battery, Allah, Army & Americans. Take away one of them and the farce will collapse. Honorable sentiments dear writer, but dont hold your breath cause things are getting worse not better.Recommend
Establishing a “Taseer Institute for Tolerance & Co-existence” will be an appropriate tribute to ST’s bravery. His children, including Aatish, and all those who commend ST’s exemplary courage to speak up on behalf of the monorities, should work together to promote harmony and goodwill through this organization.Recommend
After the assassination of Salman Taseer, everyone is trying to protect their hind end by moving away from the stance of repealing or amending the Blasphemy Law to a meek stance of ‘we should desist from its misuse’. In other words it means that they agree with its promulgation, its contents as long as it is resorted to in a fair manner, in which case I suppose they also sympathize with other Islamic injunctions which discriminate between citizens of Pakistan, whether they be from other faiths or sects not in conformity with the majority. The purpose here is to tow the official line cower down to the loudest voice which is usually from a bully to usurp the rights of the innocent, so what is Obama preaching to Jintao, that “universal rights of every human being” need be respected, perhaps he is trying to save his hind end too. There is no way of acting tough with China, but with Pakistan we need to have some preconditions to aid, to begin with let us exclude the discriminatory and derogatory sentence against Ahmedis in all applications, Passport, employment, registration with the government on any account, etc. etc., after all they are citizens of Pakistan and in the words of Obama should enjoy universal rights of every human being. It is not amendment of a law, it is only exclusion of an extraneous detail in red tape, which simply should be and could be dispensed with. The state printing presses and others doing contract work for them need to simply exclude this sentence and save the shame and insult that is endured by the underdog Ahmedis.Recommend
Tammy, it’s much soothing to read your words of conviction. I had been looking forward to something from your pen (read keyboard) ever since the evening of 4th. That day wasn’t just one of the most devastating for Salman Taseer Shaheed’s and your family, but for all of Pakistan. Even the momentous volume of tributes showered on this most vivacious of men ever known to walk the Pakistani soil shall measure far too meagre. For he certainly was a man larger than life while alive and shall remain a legend forever even when not around. His legacy has given us a bright light to navigate through in these times of darkness. If we follow his beacon and stick to it, keep our spirits high to stand up for sanity, we’d reach the enlightenment of society at the end of this long dark tunnel.Recommend
Agree with the author.Recommend
Indeed, everyone has a right to live by what one believes until and unless its not harmless to others. I hope liberals like you and me wouldnt stop voicing our opinions and stand up for the right.Recommend
I love the idea of establishing a “Taseer Institute for Tolerance & Co-existence”Recommend
Yeah…but his legacy is not a highly commendable one…..gr8 way. We need to get some higher standards people.Recommend
Tammy, minimum agenda is the key. But problem is that every one has their own minimum agenda. Which makes your enemy my hero and vice versa. Mullah is just a creation of those who use religion for profits, the establishment.
Without challenging that fighting Mullah is useless exercise as they have more in store then you can defeat. But when it come to uncovering real players behind Mullah, all of us hide. Minimum agenda is that establishment, both military and civil are responsible for Taseer’s Murder and this is time they should stop factories producing extremists.
And this is only agenda on which every one can gather. A struggle against those who create and protect these fanatics not against Mullah alone. The deep state, consisting of judges and generals needs to be told that enough is enough. Stop this madness.Recommend
The world was shocked at the hero’s treatment given to the murderer of Governor Taseer. Everybody thought the Muslims of Pakistan had either lost their faith in the true spirit of their religion or were too afraid of the extremists to come out and at least condemn the criminal glorification of the gory crime. A paid bodyguard whose duty it was to protect a senior functionary killed him and yet he was being garlanded by none else but the so-called custodians of the rule of law. But it seems that the nation is still alive and so are the properly educated religious scholar. As a breath of fresh air, a statement came from a prominent Islamic scholar who has launched a blistering attack on Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, warning that failure to repeal them will only strengthen religious extremists and their violent followers. Read more at: link textRecommend
Excellent write up, I fully agree with you. But it looks like we all seem to fall into the timid
” follower ” category, looking for a brave ” leader ” and no one seems to be stepping up.
Why ?? because as you said ‘ the response of an opinion is not another opinion but a hail of bullets ‘.
Here we have the classic bully syndrome and for every bully there is always a bigger bully. The problem is that the bigger bully is supporting the bully so we the people are up the creek without a paddle and that is putting it mildly.Recommend
Instead of further widening that bridge between herself and the rest of the public, the author has simply re-affirmed the view of the ordinary Pakistani that she just doesn’t get it. Making Salman Taseer the symbol of any movement will ensure that its dead right from the start, except for the very small group of “liberals” that Ayesha TH belongs to.
The root causes of such violence, in my humble opinion, is that the state refuses to act and provide justice and assurance to the public that the guilty will be punished. I for one do not feel that Asia Bibi should be executed for her alleged crime, but I do feel that Salman Taseer took it upon himself to violate the judicial process, politicize it and make himself into a liberal symbol for the elimination of the blasphemy law and a gradual secularization of Pakistan. It did not help that he lived such an ostentatious and western lifestyle in a country that is increasingly gripped by poverty and hopelessness. His was the place where visiting foreigners would stop to hold events…his extra cozy relationship with the west further alienated him from the public which mostly considers the western powers to still be colonizers. This is the context of Qadri’s actions that liberals fail to mention each time they discuss the murder of ST. Sure its wrong…sure nobody should go around killing people, period. The fact is that leaders in third world countries become vulnerable to such actions when they alienate themselves so much from the public that they belong to.Recommend
Words fail me when I allow myself to feel all those fleeting moments where one decides whether they choose to stand by themselves, which is usually alone, or they choose to loose themselves in a majority who is not living this life for bigger reasons, but wasting it away try to fit in a sick, sick society. In Mr. Taseer’s case, it was a triumphant moment. He did not live these grounds to eat off from it’s roots…instead he gave meaning to every genre of living touched by him. We can never really mourn his loss. We can only repent, and try appreciating all those around us, who are still living, and are in spirit the likes of ST. They stand up for themselves, for others, and do not trade in the essential good for this passing life. I wish him peace.Recommend
ET censored my previous comment beyond recognition. What is the problem with you people? What was wrong with the FACTS that I stated that you chose to remove?!Recommend
For specific complaints and enquiries, please email web@tribune.com.pk Best regards (Web Desk)Recommend
“Taseer Institute for Tolerance & Co-existence” Very apt in essence, but Salman Taseer would’ve never approved an acronym like TITCO.Recommend
You echo the thoughts, words & sentiments of a lot of people . People like me who love to talk politics ,discuss the problem the country & we as its people face; in the safe confines of our homes but are not willing to actually do something about them . Infact at times we do not even air our opinion because it differs and we dont want to be that person whose voice is different . What was Salman Taseer’s fault , he spoke out for what he believed in and a maniac got up and shot him .But was that the only reason for him being killed so ruthlessly or was it more ? The rich getting richer the poor getting poorer . Not having any electricity,gas, not being able to feed their children ,educating them only a dream . Think ?Recommend
I would have loved to have a new designated national honour Shaheed-e-Pakistan and Taseer being its first recipient. Also a street in Islamabad named after him, if appropriate the same street where he took shahadat.Recommend
@Haris
Let’s make it “Taseer Institute for Tolerance”. The acronym for this would have gone down well with ST!Recommend
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNfdxRWmJGE&feature=feedlikRecommend
@ malik….is there anybody that’s died in Pakistan in the last few years that isn’t a “shaheed”? Seems like the only people that aren’t shaheed are the ordinary ones that didn’t rob from the poor to give to the rich.Recommend
Tammy,didn’t Salman took law in his hand.Does he deserve any medal.Recommend