500 Islamic clerics and scholars misunderstand Islam, praise murderer of Pakistani governor who opposed blasphemy law

Religion of Peace Series: Pakistani Muslims prove Islamic intransigence Pt 1
Casper, Wyoming residents have learned year after year that Islam and the adherents of that religious-political paradigm are not compatible with Western concepts of individual freedoms. Contrary to what former president George W. Bush and many members of Congress maintained, Casperites know that Islam was not and is not, a ‘religion of peace’. President Barrack Hussein Obama, a self-admitted Muslim, continues maintaining the lie put forth by former president Bush. The Assassination o...

A divided Pakistan buries Salman Taseer and a liberal dream
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 January 2011 21.05 GMT Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at the Funeral of assasinated Punjab Governor Salman Taseer. Photograph: Ilyas J Dean/Rex Features Silence gripped the ancient city of Lahore yesterday as Salmaan Taseer, a pugnacious son of the soil who made his name by speaking out, was lowered into an early grave. Soldiers in fantail turbans snapped to attention around a flag-draped coffin holding the slain Punjab governor; stone-faced relatives look...

Pakistani religious groups cheer killing of governor
Islamabad, Pakistan — The increasing Radicalization of Pakistani society was laid bare Wednesday when the nation's mainstream religious organizations applauded the Murder of provincial Governor Salman Taseer earlier this week, while his killer was showered with rose petals as he appeared in court. Taseer, 66, the Governor of Punjab, the country's most heavily populated province, was assassinated Tuesday by one of his police Bodyguards after Taseer had campaigned to ease Pakistan&...

Viewpoint
The killing of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer has been described in the country's media as awful, tragic and "a grim commentary on the state of affairs in Pakistan". Author Mohammed Hanif asks whether a Pakistani culture which fails to challenge Extremism is in part to blame. When Pakistan's television anchors and newspaper columnists describe Salman Taseer's Assassination a tragedy, they are not telling us the whole truth. Because many of these very anchors and columnis...

Mainstream Pakistani Islamic Groups Praise Assassin of Governor and Warn Others That They Would Be Killed For Opposing Blasphemy
The mainstream Islamic organizations have rallied in response to the Assassination of of Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab province by one of his Bodyguards. However, they are not rallying to denounce the killing but to celebrate it because Taseer had stood up against the country’s notorious Blasphemy laws. Islamic leaders warned people not to mourn his death and warned other politicians that they could face the same fate if they tried to curtail Blasphemy prosecutions. In the meantime, hi...

Roses for Pakistan Governor's Killer
Salmaan Taseer ChronLAHORE, Pakistan — Lawyers showered the suspected killer of a prominent Pakistani Governor with rose petals when he arrived at court Wednesday and an influential Muslim scholars group praised the Assassination of the outspoken opponent of laws that order death for those who insult Islam. Punjab. Gov. Salman Taseer's killing has sent tremors through the ranks of Pakistan's already embattled Progressives and rights Activists. Thousands gathered to mourn the politician at his ...

Assassination Generates More Threats in Pakistan
Worries over Pakistan's future deepened dramatically after Tuesday's Assassination of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer by one of his own Bodyguards. The guard says he did it because of Taseer's opposition to Blasphemy laws which allow executions for people who insult Islam. While some mourn the loss of "a voice of tolerance in society," an Islamist group considered moderate used the Murder and Wednesday's Funeral to issue a threat against Taseer's allies. The Jamaat-e-Ahl-Sunnat, which opposes the...

Pakistan Governor Buried; Some Praise His Killer
In Lahore, Pakistani police guards carry the coffin of late Punjab Governor Salman Taseer ; Jan. 5, 2011. The Funeral of Pakistani Gov. Salman Taseer, gunned down yesterday apparently because of his outspoken opposition to his country's anti-blasphemy laws, came off today without any of the violence by his opponents that had been feared. DAWN also writes that the guard who witnesses said shot the Punjab Governor has been charged with the Murder, and that "hundreds of Facebook users [have] w...

Pakistan governor buried, clerics warn against grief
By Michael Georgy Islamabad | Wed Jan 5, 2011 7:00pm EST Islamabad (Reuters) - A politician gunned down over his opposition to Pakistan's Blasphemy laws was buried on Wednesday after a Murder likely to cow further those pushing for a more liberal and Secular vision of Pakistani society. Five hundred Pakistani religious scholars said that anyone who expressed grief over the Assassination of Salman Taseer, Governor of Punjab province, could suffer the same fate. Taseer, a liberal politician clo...

Former boss feared Pakistan suspect's "extremist" views
Islamabad (Reuters) - The supervising Police Officer of the Bodyguard accused of killing a Pakistani politician had asked for his removal from all sensitive security duties because of his extreme religious views, an investigator said on Thursday. The accused killer, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, said he was angered by outspoken Punjab Governor Salman Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's Controversial Blasphemy law. A senior police official investigating the case said Qadri had been dec...

Pakistani governor buried under tightened security
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Thousands gathered under tight security Wednesday to pay silent homage at the Funeral of a provincial Governor shot dead by a Bodyguard who said he was enraged by the politician's opposition to laws ordering death for insulting Islam. Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer, 66, was a senior member of the ruling party regarded as an outspoken moderate in a country increasingly beset by zealotry. His Assassination on Tuesday added to the turmoil in nuclear-armed Pakistan, where the...

This Really Is Mainstream Islam
Don't pretend that the enemies of freedom are a small minority of Extremists. Even the AP reported this: (emphasis added) More than 500 Muslim scholars praised the man suspected of killing a Pakistani Governor because the politician opposed Blasphemy laws that mandate death for those convicted of insulting Islam. The group of scholars and clerics known as Jamat Ahle Sunnat is affiliated with a moderate school of Islam and represents the mainstream Barelvi sect. The group said in a statement We...

Paper: Taseer died for 'questioning a law'
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The twist in the Assassination of Pakistan Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer was that while he broke no law, he died "for questioning a law," a Dawn editorial said. The reference was to Taseer's efforts to change Pakistan's Blasphemy law, under which a person can be sentenced to death for criticizing Islam, the Koran or the Prophet Mohammed. Taseer, a noted liberal, was gunned down allegedly by his own Security Guard in retaliation for his liberal views. "That unprec...

World scorns slaying of Pakistani governor
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- The British Government is "appalled" by the Assassination of the Governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, the British Foreign Secretary said. Salman Taseer, a Veteran member of the Pakistan People's Party, was gunned down Tuesday in Islamabad, allegedly by a member of his security team. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a Wednesday statement that the Assassination was a terrible loss for a Pakistani people deserving of a stable and democratic fut...

Pakistan PM bends to opposition demands on economy
ISLAMABAD - The Pakistani government said Thursday it will reverse unpopular fuel price hikes that helped spark the breakup of the governing coalition, an apparent attempt to prevent the government from collapsing at a time of growing turmoil in the country. The move came as the ruling Pakistan People's Party is reeling from the Assassination of an outspoken liberal Governor by one of his Bodyguards who told officials during his first court statement he was proud of the Murder and saw it a...

Pakistan's increasing radicalisation: Staring into the abyss
The PPP has been rocked by Mr Taseer’s Murder, which brings back memories of the ghastly Assassination by Extremists of the party’s leader, Benazir Bhutto, in 2007. Pakistan’s problems, including an economy in a tailspin and a raging Islamist Insurgency, are unlikely to get the attention they need while the government struggles for survival. Mr Taseer was the Governor of Punjab, a largely ceremonial position in Pakistan’s most populous province, but a high-profile one for...

Muslim scholars heap praise on Pakistan governor's killer
THE self-confessed killer of a prominent Pakistani Governor was showered with rose petals as he arrived at court yesterday, and an influential Muslim scholars group praised the Assassination of the outspoken opponent of the country's strict Blasphemy laws. • A Pakistani greets Mumtaz Qadri, third from right, the alleged killer of Punjab's Governor Salman Taseer, as he arrives at a court in Islamabad yesterday. Picture: AP Mumtaz Qadri, 26, made his first appearance in an Islamabad court, wh...

Moderate Muslim Scholars Praise Man Who Murdered Pakistani Governor
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Blasphemy and Betrayal: The Murder of Salman Taseer
Anna Bigelow is Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy & Religious Studies at North Carolina State University. "You are free; you are free to go to your temples, you are free to go to your Mosques or to any other places of worship in this State of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste or creed—that has nothing to do with the business of the State." Would that Jinnah had survived longer (he died in 1948) to secure that principle in Pakistani society. Instead, t...

500 Islamic Clerics Misunderstand Islam...
Sheikyermami has a good roundup on the Murder of Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer. Mercy! Those misunderstanders of Islam are everywhere it seems, Blame the Victim - Taseer himself responsible for killing "JAMAAT e Islami Ameer Syed Munawwar Hasan has said the Murder of Punjab Governor Salman Taseer is the outcome of obstructing the process of the law in which an accused of Blasphemy was being tried, adding that he (Taseer) himself was responsible for his death."...

Former boss feared Pakistan suspect's "extremist" views
By Kamran Haider Islamabad | Thu Jan 6, 2011 7:20am EST Islamabad (Reuters) - The supervising Police Officer of the Bodyguard accused of killing a Pakistani politician had asked for his removal from all sensitive security duties because of his extreme religious views, an investigator said on Thursday. The accused killer, identified as Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, said he was angered by outspoken Punjab Governor Salman Taseer's opposition to Pakistan's Controversial Blasphemy law. A senior poli...

An Encounter with Salman Taseer
Courtesy of defense analyst Harlan Ullman and his wife, I had the opportunity to meet and talk extensively with Pakistan Punjab Province Governor Salman Taseer at their Georgetown home on May 17th this past year. The intimate reception was comprised mostly of senior level Department of Defense and Department of State officials. Joint Chiefs of Staff Commander Mike Mullen was slated to attend but not sure he got there before I had to depart. Others in attendance included Sunday Times of London Wa...

Alleged killer seen as security threat
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- The Security Guard alleged to have assassinated Pakistan's Punjab Gov. Salman Taseer had previously been seen by police as a security threat, authorities said. New information on the suspect, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, has raised speculation Taseer's killing may have been a political Conspiracy and not the act of a lone religious Extremist, Dawn reported. It had been alleged Qadri, a member of the elite security guard, had acted in retaliation for Taseer's oppositio...

Pakistani governor shot 29 times
Provide feedback to the multimedia producers. Thank you. Your feedback was successfully sent. Video will begin in 5 seconds. What type of connection do you have? Your video format settings have been saved. The Governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was shot dead by one of his own Bodyguards. Lahore: Pakistan was on high alert yesterday as the Funeral of the Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer, took place after the country's highest-profile Assassination in three years. The killing ...

Pakistan Melts Down as US/Nato Forces Struggle in Afghanistan
Islamist lawyers showered Mumtaz Qadri with roses when he arrived in court on Wednesday to face charges of having assassinated Salman Taseer, the Governor of the province of Punjab in Pakistan, according to Dawn (Pakistan). And MEMRI has translated a statement by 500 Pakistani religious scholars, mostly belonging to the Terrorist Organization Jamaat Ahle Sunnat Pakistan, praising Qadri for keeping alive a “tradition of 1,400 years in Islam” which requires the killing of anyone commit...