Removed from ‘hit list’: Bounty earns Bilour ‘forgiveness’ from Taliban

Taliban Shura ‘praised Bilour for his sacrifice for the cause of Islam’.

PESHAWAR:

A bounty offer for the American producer of a hate-film incensed moderate and liberal quarters – but it earned the railways minister “forgiveness” from Taliban insurgents.

The banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said on Wednesday they have removed the railways minister, Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, from their “hit list”.

Bilour sparked international condemnation when he offered $100,000 for the death of the filmmaker, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, and urged the Taliban and al Qaeda to carry out what he called the “noble deed”.

“We have totally forgiven him and removed his name from our hit-list,” TTP spokesperson Ehsanullah Ehsan said in an audio message from an unknown location.

Ehsan said the Taliban Shura, a top consultative body, had met on Tuesday and “praised Bilour for his sacrifice for the cause of Islam”. “The Shura paid rich tributes to Bilour and endorsed his bounty announcement,” he added.

Since the government and Bilour’s own party, Awami National Party (ANP), have distanced themselves from the bounty offer, the TTP spokesperson said they would continue to target other ANP leaders.

Ehsan also appealed to the rich people in Pakistan and across Muslim world to follow in Bilour’s footsteps and announce head money for the maker of the ‘sacrilegious movie’.

When contacted, the party’s central spokesperson Zahid Khan parried the question and said that only Bilour himself could comment on this issue.

But Bilour insisted public opinion was behind him in the country, which has seen widespread protests against the low-cost film including nationwide rallies on Friday that ended in bloodshed and looting, with 26 people killed.

“I expressed my personal view and faith. I stand by my declaration,” the 72-year-old Bilour told AFP on Tuesday. “My faith is non-violent, but I cannot forgive and tolerate (this insult),” he said.

He said a businessman from Lahore had offered to put up a further $400,000 for the reward and said that freedom of speech should not be used as an excuse to insult Islam.

“Killing is not a good way, but right now it is the only way, because no action has been taken from Western countries (against the filmmaker),” he said.

Washington condemned Bilour’s reward offer as “inflammatory and inappropriate”, while the EU said it deplored it. Bilour said he was surprised by the outrage.

(Read: The bounty business)

(With ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM AFP)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2012.