The bounty business

Bilour deserves to be penalised, though danger following this would be that he will be upheld as a hero by extremists.

Why does so much controversy always seem to be stemming from our country? This time around, Railway Minister Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour’s offer of a $100,000 bounty for the head of the man who made the controversial video, Innocence of Muslims, finds us in the eye of the storm.

Bilour, a veteran ANP leader, should know better. As he himself has accepted, he is, in fact, instigating murder and thereby committing a crime. The fact that he is aware of this and willing to bear the consequences does not alter his intended-to-incite statement. At a time when we need the frenzy over the video to fade away, Bilour has created more hype by calling on elements of al Qaeda and the Taliban to kill the film-maker and also appealing to the ‘rich people’ to donate money for this cause.

Fortunately, the federal government has had the good sense to completely dissociate itself from the ‘bounty’ offer. A spokesman said an explanation would be sought and the ANP leader spoken to. Indeed, members of the ANP themselves seem stunned by Bilour’s comment and his assertion that he is answerable only to the Holy Prophet (pbuh), They have asserted that his statement reflects his views alone and not the party’s. An ANP MNA, Bushra Gohar, has described Bilour’s statement as a criminal act. Bilour deserves to be penalised, though the danger following this would be that he will be upheld as a hero by extremists, creating further problems for taking such an action.

No one with any degree of wisdom condones the film. But what we do need to understand is that its makers would be hit hardest if Muslims simply chose to ignore it and refused to further its publicity. Bilour has done just the opposite; his ‘reward for head’ saga will only complicate matters. It seems obvious that, at the very least, he needs to be removed from his cabinet post and persuaded to refrain from making any further calls to seek death or demand extremist acts in this fashion. Such actions only push our country further away from a place in the civilised world.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2012.