In memoriam: Salmaan Taseer remembered in cyberspace

"We want to have a place where we can make sense of the mess that has been left," explains Taseer's media...

"How can a man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the Temple of his Gods?"

His favourite quote, and the words he that he lived by, adorn the home page of late Governor Punjab Salmaan Taseer’s new memorial website, launched on January 22 following his tragic assassination earlier this month.

The memorial section has been incorporated as a subsection to the late web-savvy governor’s earlier site as the Governor of Punjab, www.salmaantaseer.com. Various subsections have been built into the website, chronicling Taseer’s life history starting from his early life and business career to his political career and incarceration, his family life, his governorship and finally his death.

Outlining the motivating factor behind the launch of the website, Sobbia Saleem, media consultant for the Taseer family says, “We do not want to let the issue die down. We want people to listen to Salmaan Taseer's message with open ears. I want people to know categorically that he was never against religion, never against the Prophet (pbuh) and never against the blasphemy laws. In fact, he didn't even want the law to be repealed. He just said that the law should be reviewed so that innocent people are not targeted by personal vendettas. Now that he is dead, people are paying more attention to what he said. We want this message to stay alive and we want people to focus on his real purpose.”

A separate subsection titled “Death and Controversy” provides a comprehensive compendium of news and analyses on Taseer’s murder from the local and international media. The tributes section also provides a collection of all the tributes paid to the late governor on local and international media forums. A gallery section showcases photographs of the late governor from different periods of his life in addition to caricatures of him published in various newspapers.The website also features a condolence section with condolence messages from prominent political and media personalities from across the world.

According to Saleem, the website will soon be having a condolence form where people can leave condolence messages for the late governor. “We want to have a place where we can make sense of the mess that has been left after the untimely demise of Salmaan Taseer. Thus, the vision for the memorial site is two-pronged: Firstly, we want it to be an evolving documentation of the news, features, analyses and tributes following his death. Secondly, it is meant to serve as a platform for family, friends and members of the public to leave messages of condolence and express their thoughts and opinions".