LAHORE: Around a thousand people gathered at Data Darbar on Wednesday in support of Mumtaz Qadri, the man who killed Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer one year ago, and called for his release.
Supporters of various religious parties that form the Tahaffuz Namoos-i-Rasalat Mahaz (Front for the Protection of the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) Honour) staged protests at the Lahore Press Club, Minar-i-Pakistan and other places before gathering at the Darbar. The participants, mostly Barelvi Muslims, held up portraits of Qadri and chanted slogans in his honour.
“Mumtaz Qadri expressed his love for the Holy Prophet (pbuh) by shooting a blasphemer, and you can’t even shout slogans,” said an announcer from the stage, trying to elicit a loud response from the crowd.
They also roared as their leaders announced a resolution denouncing the media for not giving them ‘proper’ coverage. When the clock struck 4:25pm, the hour marking exactly one year since Taseer was killed, by standing, raising their arms and pledging to follow Qadri “against every blasphemer”.
One speaker, Allama Muhammad Tahir Tabassum, suggested that the government auction off the gun with which Qadri shot the governor (), “like an auction of the bats or hockey sticks of famous athletes”. It was then announced that the Sunni Ittehad Council was willing to pay Rs100 million for the “holy gun”.
Allama Muhammad Nawaz Bashir Jalali paid tribute to Qadri for “remaining firm” that his actions were justified and right. He said Qadri had gained international fame for the killing, and the love “not just of mankind, but birds too”.
“Today is the day to renew our promises to defend the honour of the Prophet (pbuh),” said Pir Atharul Qadri. He said Taseer’s killing was justified by Islamic injunctions as he had committed blasphemy. He said blasphemers deserved to have their tongues cut off. He accused the media of downplaying their protests.
Advocate Habibulah Saeedi, one of the lawyers who famously garlanded Qadri when he was brought to the Rawalpindi courts, said that the legal fraternity backed the assassin.
“If Malik Ishaq, the killer of dozens of Muslims, can be released, why can’t Qadri?” asked Mujahid Abdul Rasool, referring to the founder of the outlawed Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. He said that the Sunni Ittehad Council would wage jihad against the PML-N, PPP, Sippah-i-Sahaba, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi and Lashkar-i-Taiba.
Dr Raghib Naeemi said the “true lovers” of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) would continue “eliminating the blasphemers” regardless of the views of the outside world.
Dr Ashraf Asif Jalali, Khan Muhammad Qadri and Pir Syed Zaheerul Hasan also addressed the participants.
A resolution was adopted at the end of the rally asking President Asif Zardari to declare clemency for Mumtaz Qadri and punishment for Asia Bibi, the Christian woman jailed for blasphemy whose release Taseer had campaigned for.
The resolution also demanded the permanent closure of Nato supply lines through Pakistan; purging of all Pakistani air bases of US personnel; the arrest of the killers of Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi and terrorists who bombed shrines; the removal of Ahmedis from government posts; and that “a free, fair and impartial investigation into the memo scandal be ensured and those responsible be tried under treason charges”.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 5th, 2012.
COMMENTS (144)
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@hamzad: What a Joke your statement is!!!! Jinnah was never a religious fanatic, he was niether a Sunni or a Shia for your information.
Pakistan was created as a Republic of Pakistan, only in the 60's was it naem changed into Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Islam is simply a beautiful religion and these so called religious people are exploiting the ever gratifying religious sentiments by their worrisome and obscurantist views.By whipping up zealotry they cant stop us from enlightening ourselves with the true teachings of Islam.Just to fuel up their political interests,they deceive their own identity and that is of a Muslim,Give Allah the authority to judge whats right rather than going incongruous and obdurate and killing off people for which you have no absolute right.!!we are suffering from truth decay and we need to brush ourselves with the enlightenment and sagacity of Quran.
Why is it that everyone seems to criticise the mulla or moulvi?afterall are they putting a gun to your head.The fact is that the common man,so called educated men are intrinsically radical but they have to blame someone else for their violence.
@Antanu
We Indian Muslims lead such terrible lives that our Paksitani Muslim brothers can’t imagine. We are so jealous of you.
Instead of leading a miserable life and being jealous,apply for immigration to your dream land. All the best.
Moderator ET- I hope you have nothing against some one being rescued from misery and jealousy. Or have you?
May be salman taseer was not blasphemer but what qadri did is not his fault????????? Its the mindset( of taseer and mullas) which caused salman his life.
@Aantanu: At least you tried. But it's really hard to deflect something this insane.
All Taseer demanded for revision of law made on eaarth by people, wonder how this is against Islam!
God where are we heading?
So much money to spend on a piece of crap like that, you gotta wonder where the moneys coming from!
Pakistanis think this is unique to their country. It happens in India all the time. RSS spends millions of rupees every year buying guns used to kill Muslims which are show cased all over India during Hindu festivals like Holi and Diwali. We Indian Muslims lead such terrible lives that our Paksitani Muslim brothers can't imagine. We are so jealous of you.
Beautiful.
"the arrest of the killers of Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi" All you jerks Salman Taseer attended Naeemi's funeral but you forgot to attend his funeral.
Sell it to them, and pay the monies to the poor
Jews are bad, christians are bad, hindus are bad, ahmadis are bad.....with whom can muslims make peace? NO ONE!!!! What a religion of Peace this is.
I am ashamed of bieng a Pakistani.Hopefully in my lifetime i would see the implementation of true Sercularism in Pakistan.
Shameful, indeed! Which Islamic law allows any person to become prosecutor, judge and executor? Sadly, they are using the name of Islam to make such un-Islamic, unjust and unfair demands. They're misleading the simple populace by stirring the religious emotions. To glorify a murderer in such a way is recipe for disastrous undoing of any semblance of socio-political order. Such acts are denounced by Islam as 'fitna' and 'fasad'. May Allah show the straight path to these so-called Ulemas! Ameen!
@Cautious: I think this is called democracy.... where people have different opinion... if i am not mistaken the same applies in your part of the world where there are disagreements and for that matter US, UK
And the Independent Judiciary is super busy with an unsigned memo. Bravo!
same things are happening in India also in the form of poisoned hooch, sacrifice, suicide deaths, road accidents as one was just in front of me. so Indians should shut up.
i think it's interesting time, instead of getting sad it's time just to fight these sort of absurd non-intellectual mentality with rationality and by that mean sort of getting to know your religion better...Quran is for all of us to read .. :-)
Next thing you know, they'd want to auction the clothes that murderer was wearing while committing the murder.
The really sad part is that even most of the educated class feel sympathetic towards Mumtaz Quadri.
Is the idea of Pakistan lost forever?
How can that gun be holy which has killed the man whom it was deputed to protect? Even our Holy prophet (PBUH) would have thrown away such a gun, even if it was done in his name.
"The resolution also demanded.. the arrest of the killers of Dr Sarfaraz Naeemi and terrorists who bombed shrines; "
and what abt the terrorists who kill human lives and schools? Here, every sect plays for its own set agenda and they think this is the whole Islam.
@A. Khan: That was very well articulated.
@Malik: Don't blame the "world" for the ills in Pakistan.
From the article - He said Qadri had gained international fame for the killing, and the love “not just of mankind, but birds too”.
Wow! This great new! Even birds are praising Qadri Sahib! Wah! Wah!
A nation suffering from nervous breakdown.
I wonder what stories like this do to the "Good Name" of Pakistan (when picked up and distributed by all the worlds News outlets)! Maybe it will start a movement in the West to try and buy the gun that killed Osama bin Laden! That would be Big News, followed by Big Riots (in Pakistan, of course) over such a disgusting spectacle!
they are giving a bad name to Islam
Dear ET! Was it really worth a news to get place on the front page and make a headline? Can't you just ignore such barbaric gathering of just around a thousand people for the better of Pakistan.
Free the whos only did the right thing by killing a Pharo... we need more Qadris to Baptise Pakistan.
Molvies are trying to exploit the sentiments of common muslims and trying to do what is dishonesty...Molvies blindly call others Gustakh, bittati, mushrik and so ....without looking whether one has committted blasphemy or not. I was also confused on this issue but after listening 13hrs speach delivered by one of the great scholar of the time and also creater of law 295C, Dr.Tahir ul Qadri, I came to know that what the reality is and it removes all misunderstandings and confusions being spread by Molvies...I suggest all muslims to listen,
http://www.minhaj.org/english/tid/15138/Gustakh-e-Rasool-kon-hota-hay?-Kin-Kalimat-se-Gustakhi-Sabit-hoti-hay?Tahaffuz-e-Hurmat-e-Risalat-wa-Tahaffuz-e-Hurmat-e-Din.html
May Allah blesss us !!
I've got a brilliant idea to tackle this, ask for 150mn for the gun, then use the money on a massive de-radicalisation/education campaign across the country. Kill two birds with one stone.
@ali: Are you serious or being sarcastic? Do you even live in Pakistan when talking about sanctity of life?
@hamzad: Sure. Islam did not exist before Pakistan. :-). Just to clarify, is it "no Islam without Pakistan" or is it " no Pakistan without Islam"?
@saima bilwany: There is no religion of peace. Religion is what people make it out to be. It's very clear what's people have made religion into in Pakistan and ts not peace and the path to this place has been laid way back.
@Acorn Guts: dont be too sure that qadri will get the noose. In fact I am sure that he won't because a significant section of Pakistanis appear to support what he did as seen by the large turnout in various public meetings in his favour. The rot is deep.
Lets hope qadri's son grows up to be a better man than his father.
@TrueMuslim: And you call yourself a true Muslim while supporting these crazy people who held this rally.
I long for the day when a good percentage of the population in the third world would outgrow religion like in the west.
What a Petty?? One human being murdered and someone told to auction the Gun and said it Holly Gun??? Illiterate sick minds can only think like this. Why not pay 100 Million to poor Pakistani people who dont have basic rights?? Where is free judiciary?? Why these people are allowed to exploit more and more illiterate people?? Till when we in the name of religion and in the name of ego kill people and snub there rights to live in this country??
Only 100 m is nothing, one of Mullah was given 35 crore plot at Faisalabad. These are millionaire Mullahs.
Well thats what our government and USA have been doing and still are doing. Kill the innocents and then give some money to the families. Then why can't these people pay to Salman's family? Why u people have double standards? I think its totally fair what these people are asking for.
@Tufail Malik: Dear all, as every theory Nd religion has purpose and there is not special thing without purpose, similarly ,Islam and the holy prophet has purpose, ISLAM MEANS SALAMTI PEACE AND PROPHET MUHAMMAD IS REHMAT UL LIL AALAMEEN. The goal of every problem should be PEACE AND REHMAT , secondly Islam is a religion of peace and forgiveness and more above system, one person can to be given an authority of pronouncing punishment to anyone, system should be followed at any cost.
Unfortunately, the majority of your countrymen apparently don't agree with you about the nature and goals of Islam. When will Muslims who share your interpretation stand up for your religion and take it back?
Indians cannot even touch madrassas..even though we know that most madrassahs promote Indians muslims to have a seperate identity...they do not promote multiculturalism...thereby creating a deep divide in our society...the same divide does not exist between jains/buddhists,hindus and sikhs(despite 84)
But the INDIAN government cannot do anything for 2 reasons 1. Vote banks (of congress) 2. Pseudo Secularism
Only Liberal Indian Muslims can take the initiative to clean Indian Madrassah Curriculum.
Such ignorants! Islam doesnt need enemies, with 'supporters` like these.
"Media was also accused of not giving proper coverage to the rallies." So tribune thought better avoid confrontation with mullahs and featured the news about rally....the whole country has surrender to extremist... But this is not the solution. Progressive forces need to rethink. Either to stay quite and wait for another brutality like this or come forward and tell the world and mullahs that we do not recognize your version of Islam
I never liked Taseer but this is ridiculous. In Islam sanctity of life is supreme. This is shameful.
Will anyone find out how they will get all that money?
Forget everything! WHAT have they done to that cute baby? :(
that is ridiculous. when will we stop making killers, our heroes. we think we are doing something nice. no its not nice, it is basically an act by illiterates that will further harm the image of our religion. for God sake stop this insanity. he killed a human being and that is enough.
a very logical question to all the supporters of this guy. we have a blasphemy law. abuse or use is another question. but dont you think that if salman taseer committed blasphemy, he should have been given a chance to defend his statements and go through the standard procedure. if everyone has to decide than why is there a law? simple solution abolish it. if you dont want to abolish this law than atleast abide by it. we need to stop this hypocrisy.
@zwandun: seems you are living in a fools paradise. CJ does not bother with contempt of court, he gets upset when it is a matter of 'NATIONAL SECURITY'. nothing is more important than the khakis in this holy land.
The height of stupidity. I am amazed why govt does not take any action against such provocative and insane rallies. These morons are encouraging people to take law in their hands and promote lawlessness. Amazingly these fanatics have also been victims of extremism, but still insisting on it. Talibans and other hard liners count this group mushrik and mardood and do not miss any opportunity to stage suicide attacks on different shrines from time to time. They have also assassinated some of the key figures of this group in the past. The fight over controlling mosque between these groups is also very common. Despite it all, they are happily promoting such insane culture and govt is watching it all silently.
@Cautious: by World you mean india, usa or non-sober europe?
idiots
This is not the Pakistan I want my children to grow up in...
First of all these individuals should be investigated for having Rs. 100 million. Where did this money come from. Secondly they should be prosecuted for instigating people and supporting criminals. The government should ban all religious and ethnic political parties as they are the root cause of terrorism and violence.
When jihadis butcher kafir kafirs it's fun, but when they butcher Muslim kafirs, it's not fun anymore.
God save us from the day when these zealots take complete control of this country. What these bigots may launch under their slogan of 'amr bil maroof wa nahi a nil munkar' will surely make the Spanish Inquisition look like enlightenment.
The biggest damage to Pakistan's prosperous and peaceful present and future comes from within. The silence of the establishment on these guys and OBL, in marked contrast to it's hyperactivity on the memogate affair says it all. Pakistan's establishment is the sovereign and it's action or inaction speak volumes about how it sees the future dispensation of this nation.
Sell it to them, distribute the monies amongst the poor.
100 million for holy gun??
come on people, you can make Holy Prophet (SAW) more happier by spending such a huge amount on flood victims, earthquake affectees & IDPs!!
"pehlay aati thi haaledil pe hassi ab kisi baat par nahi aati"
my apologies and condolences to salman taseers family and friends as a countryman a brother of islam for i feel ashamed of being a pakistani when i see these occurrences and people our people instead of condemning something that should be condemned they are celebrating it, itnay jahil aur kamzarf loag hain ke kia bataoon, koi haal nai hai in kambakhton ka, they have forgotten that islam teaches forgiveness and kindness not terrorism and killing. i wish there were a solution to this jahalat but unfortunately there is none to be seen in the near future, God help these demented people praising a cold blooded murderer who was also a betrayer as he killed the man who feed him and his family, what a shame what a shame.!
Let Qadri, the murderer, be hanged and then every part of his body be auctioned to these fanatics. Open more schools with this money to get rid of these morons.
Worshipping a gun in the name of Islam is not blasphemy to these evil mullahs?
This country would be very prosperous if only we get rid of these mullahs and so-called scholars. Get rid of these cancer mullahs who have destroyed our country and our religion. I'm all for freedom of speech, but freedom to hate CANNOT be tolerated. These mullahs have made a industry out of hating different groups. They are a cancerous mole that has to be treated.
WAKE UP PAKISTAN: These terrorist mullahs are an existential threat to Pakistan and Islam. We need to get rid of them to insure the safety of our country and our religion. They preach hatred on the name of our beautiful Prophet Muhammad (P). Our beautiful Prophet Muhammad (P) would have never tolerated these extremist, fundamentalist political mullahs.
I feel shamed of having such idiots in my country and my religion.. Long live Salman Taseer. Hang Qadri
The Sunni Ittehad Council's publicity people are sharp, they know the authorities are both not interested and scared, at the same time. Why shouldn't they take advantage of weakness so clearly displayed ???
is this not contempt of court when these people defy the decision of the court and support qadri and qadri-producing extremist factories who quite clearly think thmeselves too holy to be under the judgement of courts? I think CJ should give a little time to this petty and unimportant issue though i understand he is occupied by the extremely important issue of memo and the threatened dignity of sipah-salar. But I know the honorable judges know a lot more than I do.
Many decades back I read in my school text book and so are the present generation of Indian school kids of all communities learn- 'Islam is a religion of peace and compassion.' The teachings of this great religion remains the same for all these years but some of its present day followers have hijacked the two most important ingredients to violence and hatred which is indeed sad.
@All, Please don't blame all Mullahs for this coward act. Names of these so called scholars are mentioned in the article, use their names to express your discomfort.
@A. Khan:
Absolutely right bro, could not have said it better. Also somebody needs to ask this council how did they get 100 million rupees. This council needs to be audited ASAP and banned.
Every country has fanatics -- what makes Pakistan different is that when fanatics preach their hatred the political/military/religious leaders remain mute.
Amazing people
Kya tamasha hua Islam ki taqdeer ke saath Qatl-e-Shabbir hua naara-e-takbeer ke saath!
I feel so bad for the poor kid. What wrong did he do? :(
Baby is so cute moo moo moooo.
I wonder what's the quality of Law Schools in Pakistan? It seems like if you can't get admission in any law school join the 'madrassa'. Don't these folks know that these guns were invented by non-muslims? Why don't they use some of Islamic weapons?
lol... pakistan is becoming funny as the day passes... the only thing left out is to declare this guy as a saint...
Just 1 question!!! where did they get this Rs100million from which they want 2 spend on a gun which (supposedly killed a infidel) instead of the needy people of Pakistan(who are from the Umat of Muhammad S.AW) !!! huh!!!
Dear all, as every theory Nd religion has purpose and there is not special thing without purpose, similarly ,Islam and the holy prophet has purpose, ISLAM MEANS SALAMTI PEACE AND PROPHET MUHAMMAD IS REHMAT UL LIL AALAMEEN. The goal of every problem should be PEACE AND REHMAT , secondly Islam is a religion of peace and forgiveness and more above system, one person can to be given an authority of pronouncing punishment to anyone, system should be followed at any cost.
MaShAllah! May the Muslims get more power.........
Sedularoons, liberaloons, and murtadoons have no place in paak saaf Pakistan...as per Quaid-i-azam "it is the fortress of Islam and we'll make sure no one tries to lay siege to it or put a crack in its ramparts."
Just ask these illitrates for the good sake of it,.. how the Holly Prophet(PBUH) would have been acted on this incident? My heart says , not the way as our so called religious teachers are saying.
This is just disgusting. I hope the international media does not pick it up.
THE MADNESS AT ITS BEST A WORLD RECORDCan these protestors tell me, was the only Pakistani nobel prize winner Abdul Salam also an enemy of Pakistan, many Ahmadis who fought in the wars for Pakistan, were they also enemies of Pakistan. Actually these people who are protesting themselves the enemies of Pakistan. Ahmadis are not our enemies InshALLAH, they will continue to be on important govt. posts.
Pakistan Zindabad
"‘true lovers’ of the holy prophet (pbuh) will continue to eliminate blasphemers, regardless of international condemnation."
Or from so-called 'Muslims'!!
Argument does not have much value in religious discourse. Never in the history people in general have converted or changed their faith on the strength of the argument. It is only environment that can change the people. Just compare 10 years Islamic history in Mecca and then Medina. Only few embraced Islam in Mecca, however, in Medina within 10 years, there were thousands. Hence, either create an environment where a person feels same as one feels during Haj days and continue to remain a practicing Muslim even after leaving Mecca or just preach and practice tolerance. As such environment could be created except early days of Islam, hence, born Muslims fail to practice what they believe or preach. So do not argue, only preach tolerance and rest should be left to God.
Yet another symptom of being a sick nation!
I am a secular. I oppose blasphemy laws. I am a Pakistani
I don't think anybody of them knows what Salmaan Taseer actua stance was. 'Little knowledge is more dangerous than no knowledge'. I am a muslim and I condemn it.
Kuffar is always afraid of Islam and of our deen! Allah has promised to create terror in their hearts!! So what is new????
@Concerned: Inquisition was followed by reform movements. But it is all dark in the holiest of the holy religions since inception.
This is a game being played by mullahs and liberal elites. Both should leave us regular Pakistanis alone. We don't care about the Taseers or Qadris of this poor country.
They want to spend a fortune to buy a gun used for murder but they won't spend that much to help the poor widows and orphans. And these are the self-appointed spiritual custodians of our souls. Pakistan, it cannot get more pathetic than this.
If the Quaid was around, these Mullahs would have been thrown behind the slammer. With the keys locked away. Someone should ask the Mullahs how much Raymond Davis gun was worth.
You guys can't even agree that the assassination of a prominent governor is bad ---- and you wonder why the World has a poor opinion of Pakistan?
This nation is dead so long these barbarians are on the loose. Child Protection NGO should take custody of this child otherwise they will make another Qadri out of him to take out another Salman Taseer. Thats why i support the banning of 100% of Madrasas in Pakistan.
Relax Pakistanis. Now, you realize the true face of our political mullahs. They do not serve to help our souls; they care not of spiritual purity; rather they want the first bite at the political apple. And they are willing to create murder and mayhem for this end.
Are these people really following the Almighty or just using His name to justify their perverted ways?
reminds me of "children of corn"
This is truly disgusting. We have two options. Either all progressive, moderate and just people leave this country and leave it to these guys or we actually take actions against these fools. One supporter says he will wage war against all the big political parties. Excuse me! isn;t TTP doing the same thing. I am not fan of political parties but everyone has the right to speak and live. Shame on these people and shame on us for letting this happy. Rehman Malik these are the terrorists in the making. You want to do something about it or should we wait for an incident. Thank You very much for reading. I hope you understand my point of view.
Surely we are near the day of judgement. Because near the time of judgement the ummah will be divided to such an extent that an average muslim will struggle to decide who is right n who is wrong. Here Is an example of this where we see on one hand some have condemned Taseers death yet others r celebrating it...
I am a secular ......and I am a Pakistani.
Bravo!!
I don't care about Qadri or Taseer! But can we please auction off the gun and start the biding at 1000 million or a billion rupees and give the money to Edhi foundation etc. That would be a good start, next we can auction off Taseer's twitter account to the Liberal facists and the noose that's used to hang Qadri to the other exterimists and all of Pakistan's financial problems will be resolved!!!
devastating mindset! unfortunately have seen really well educated men calling this murderer a saint! Unfortunate!
Tell them to PAY OFF all of Pakistan's debts (local and foreign) and then pay taxes for every single Pakistani for a 1000 years, THEN THEY CAN HAVE THE MURDERER'S WEAPONS.
Auction it with a starting bid of 500 million Rupees. Use this money to educate poor people to save them from becoming bigots.
While the real terrorists are in Lahore, why the Army is searching in the borders. Why the Government, Army & ISI silent when these criminal elements try to take the country to the dark ages which are also called stone ages. Every Pakistani is answerable to the world because of the actions of these few.
Sou motto dear CJ? Or maybe not, that would not be popular.
only 100 millions rupees, oh man this is too little for such a Holy Gun. If I were you, I would have sacrificed all of my assests for this
This is always included in these religious rallies.
if they believe islam is the religion of peace then why are these religious people so obsessed with the tools of war?
This is beyond sickening!! this completely exposes the way religion has warped the minds of our people.they are brought up on stories of jihadi violence,where heroes are the ones who cut off the heads of the non-muslims,where the heroes are the ones who destroyed the buddha statues in afghanistan,where heroes are the ones who destroyed temples.
Its a very sad state of affairs in Pakistan. Taseer rightly highlighted the misuse of blasphemy law to settle personal scores. Yet our religious bigots deliberately ignore this and continue to eulogize Mumtaz Qadri.
Has anyone questioned Mumtaz on whether he actually understood what Taseer was speaking out against ? I think not. And using Mumtaz's young son as a propaganda tool is downright sick.
And by the way, the so called holy gun is designed and manufactured in infidel Germany. Furthermore the people demanding this are resorting to idolatry of an object, which is shirk.
Moderator, I shall be checking back later to see if my comment has been posted. thanks !
What a shameless group of people.
This is ridiculous, they're just decimating Islam - it's getting like the Inquisition!
Strange strange world,
Thank you for giving coverage to these people :) This is featured news but there's no featured news regarding Salmaan Taseer.
You guys should get a medal!
thats little too much. mullas are exploiting the situation.