Silenced critic: Two years on, Taseer’s assassination still divisive

Social activists say death silenced attempts to reform law; right-wingers beatify assassin.

ISLAMABAD:

On January 4, 2011, Salmaan Taseer’s outspoken stance on the abuse of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws was silenced by a barrage of bullets after he stepped out of a coffee shop in Islamabad’s Kohsar Market.

Fast-forward two years, and the blasphemy law not only remains in place, but human rights activists think the law has been strengthened.

“The difference after Taseer’s assassination is that we don’t have the courage to tackle the blasphemy law anymore,” said social activist Marvi Sirmed. “Politicians are afraid of discussing the issue now.”

She said energy has been sapped from the movement to amend the law since Taseer’s murder.

Punjab Governor Taseer was gunned down by his own bodyguard for his opposition to the blasphemy law. The guard, Mumtaz Qadri, was convicted of murder in October 2011. Just two months before Qadri received his death sentence, the Taseer family was forced into another nightmare after Taseer’s son Shahbaz was kidnapped from Lahore. He has yet to be recovered.

Raza Rumi, director of the policy think tank Jinnah Institute, said Taseer’s murder and the subsequent abduction of his son are “chilling reminders of the various shades of extremism that the Pakistani state and society have nurtured.”

“While Taseer’s murderer has been sentenced to death, the mindset which afflicts thousands of other such extremists still remains unaddressed,” he said.

Rumi said the dearth of political will to fight extremist mindsets has also led to the silencing of more voices.

“If anything, lack of political action and consensus building has led to more violence, whereby we had to lose progressive leaders such as Shahbaz Bhatti and Bashir Bilour,” Rumi said.

Taseer’s assassination was preceded by his public support for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman from a village in Sheikhupura District, who was sentenced to death for blasphemy after an argument with her Muslim neighbours over a glass of water.

Sirmed commented on the situation in a tweet on Friday, writing, “Two years after Salmaan Taseer[‘s death]: Asia Bibi is still in jail, his son is in [the] custody of ‘unknown’ militants, his convicted murderer [is] still alive.”

“We need more people in politics as well as civil society to get over their apathy, indifference and fear, stand up to be counted and speak up with the courage of their convictions,” said Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist.

On Friday, a handful of civil society representatives gathered at the location where Taseer was assassinated to pay their tributes. They lit candles and placed bouquets next to a large poster of Taseer.

In Rawalpindi, the Sunni Tehreek held a rally in support of Taseer’s self-confessed assassin Mumtaz Qadri. Men holding portraits of Qadri and banners bearing slogans demanding his release marched from Liaqat Bagh to Adiala Jail. The rally was led by Ghufran Sialvi, Mufti Liaquat Rizvi, and Allama Tahir Iqbal Chishty.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 5^th, 2013.