The bounty business

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


Editorial September 24, 2012
The bounty business

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 25th, 2012.

COMMENTS (24)

Haroon Usman | 12 years ago | Reply

Kindly learn to watch the intention behind concept of Freedom Of Speech.Obama sis of the view that he cannot ban the movie because it would hurt the concept of american liberty.It is illegal to dsecrate and disrespect the U.S flag in america then why disrespect a Holy man (PBUH) who is revered by over a billion people.That's pure bigotry.Isn't it?

Wake Up | 12 years ago | Reply

@Haroon Usman: "By the way have liberal idiots like you ever noticed that it’s always Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who is blasphemed against or sometimes it’s Jesus (PBUH).Prophet Moses (PBUH) who is revered most highly by jews is never insulted so we can very well make out who is always behind this"

Watch southpark and you will find how all religions are made fun off. There are tons of movies making fun of Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and also some made by people of the same faith. They understand to develop as a society and culture one needs to criticize and ridicule aspects of religion that dont apply in society today. Very ignorant comments. No buildings were burnt, no people were killed after these videos. Life goes on. Some people have a laugh, some people are offended but I doubt many lose sleep over it. There are always LEGAL ways to protest.

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