Blasphemy and Betrayal: The Murder of Salman Taseer

Pakistan: A good man who did something
Mr Taseer, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party and a close ally of the president, Asif Ali Zardari, had been campaigning on behalf of Asia Bibi, an illiterate Christian farm worker who in the course of a row with neighbours over Drinking Water was accused of Blasphemy, convicted and sentenced to death. He had called for her to be pardoned, and also for the law, under which death for blasphemy against the prophet is mandatory, to be changed. His murderer, one of his Bodyguards, said thi...

Pakistans Minister for Religious Minorities: Clerics who issued decrees against assassinated governor should be held to account
Shabhaz Bhatti himself now has death Fatwa hanging over his head for defending Asia Bibi and challenging the Blasphemy law. Like Salman Taseer, he has committed Blasphemy against the Blasphemy law, and in a typically disproportionate response (cartoons = death, criticism = death, etc.), that was enough for an Islamic group to call for his head over a month ago. "Anyone who is against the Blasphemy law puts his life at risk, Lahore Archbishop says," by Fareed Khan for AsiaNews, January 5: Lahor...

Muslim Assassin of Governor Critical of Blasphemy Laws Showered with Rose Petals
The pious assassin of the Pakistan Governor who was shot dead in cold blood because he criticized Islamic Blasphemy laws (the Sharia) was showered with rose petals. [Jihad Murder Victim, Governor] Taseer had recently spoken out in defense of a Christian woman sentenced to death for Blasphemy and calling for the law to be struck down, drawing ire from Islamist parties. Recently on Twitter, Mr. Taseer had been calling for people to demonstrate on the street against the Blasphemy laws, which date...

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...

Fears for life of Pakistani Christian
Salmaan Taseer meets with Aasia Bibi after she was sentenced to hang for blasphemy in Punjab province, where Taseer was governor until his assassination on Wednesday. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Human rights workers say they fear for the immediate safety of Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman at the heart of Pakistan's blasphemy furore, following the assassination of Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer this week. "None of us feel safe, least of all her," said Shahzad Kamran, a Christian charity work...

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...

Pakistans blasphemy law strikes fear in minorities
 On Tuesday, the Governor of the most populous state of Punjab, Salman Taseer, who had strongly opposed the law and sought presidential pardon for the 45-year-old Christian farmhand, was gunned down by one of his Bodyguards. Here some facts about the Blasphemy law and its fallout. * The law has its roots in 19th century colonial Legislation to protect places of worship, but it was during the Military Dictatorship of General Mohammad Zia ul-Haq in the 1980s that it acquired teeth as part of ...

Reading the Taseer Assassination
The Murder of Salman Taseer, longtime Governor of the Punjab (the country’s dominant and Richest province) and publisher of the Lahore Daily Times, is likely to have unnerved members of the Pakistani elite who assumed that the state’s security forces could and would protect them against fundamentalist violence. However, there is genuine speculation in this part of the world — unexplored so far in the foreign press — that Taseer may not have been killed because of his oppo...

Pakistan Reverses Course On Fuel-Price Increase
The Pakistani government said Thursday that 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 as his religio...

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...

Thoughts on the Salman Taseer Assassination
I spent yesterday reading about the Murder of Salman Taseer, the Governor of Punjab province in Pakistan, but I haven’t time to blog about it until now.  Taseer was a high-ranking member of the Most Powerful Pakistani political party and he was the Governor of the political and Cultural Center of the country.  He was apparently murdered because of his objections to Pakistan’s draconian anti-blasphemy laws, and campaigned on behalf of a Christian woman who had been sentenced...

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...

Exposing the cracks
Punjab Governor Salman Taseer was one of Pakistan's most well-known political figures, but his death has revealed much more about this country than just its politics.  It has exposed the deep fissure that runs through society here, and some signs of the direction in which this country appears to be heading.  There are still questions as to whether Mumtaz Qadri, the assassin, and one of the governor's own Bodyguards acted alone, or with the backing of a radical movement. ...

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...

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...

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...

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: Lawyers shower assassin of governor opposed to blasphemy law with rose petals
And another group of clerics warned no one should pray or "express regret" for the loss of Salman Taseer, who died essentially for committing "Blasphemy" against the blasphemy law. They said, "the supporter is as equally guilty as one who committed blasphemy." In barely two days, the wide reporting of this single case may have done more than any before it to rip the fig leaf of "moderation" off of Pakistan, and to show what a uselessly relative label "moderate" ultimately is. As one Pakistani...

The Global Radical Islamic Threat To Freedom: Ignore Or Excuse At Our Peril
In an editorial today entitled “Under Siege,” the New York Times laments the recent violence committed by radical Islamists against Christians in Egypt and Iraq. Yesterday, the Times ran an editorial entitled “A Brave Man Killed,” in which it lamented the Assassination of Salman Taseer, the Governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province who had called for the Repeal of Pakistan’s anti-blasphemy law. This law, popular with Pakistan’s Muslim majority, imposes a...

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...

How Pakistan views the assassination of Salman Taseer
The Assassination of the Governor of Pakistan's Punjab Province, Salman Taseer, has prompted a litany of responses across Pakistan, from praise to lament....

Funeral for Pakistani governor killed for opposing blasphemy law delayed as several Islamic clerics refuse to lead it
The Tiny Minority of Extremists™ seems to be fully in the driver's seat in Pakistan. "Slain Punjab Governor Taseer laid to rest in Lahore," by M Zulqernain for the Press Trust of India, January 5 (thanks to Ravi): Lahore, Jan 5 (PTI) Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer, who was assassinated by his extremist Bodyguard for opposing the Controversial Blasphemy law, was laid to rest with full state honours in this eastern Pakistani city today amid tight security.... The Funeral prayer at the Governo...

Assassin or hero? Pakistan's great divide over killer of governor
Imagine this: One of the top politicians of your country is gunned down by his own Bodyguard. Shocking, but not unheard of. Now imagine this: The very next day, the assassin shows up at court and is given a hero's welcome. Supporters shower him with rose petals and put a garland around his neck. Sound bizarre? Well, that's exactly what has happened this week in Pakistan. The killing and its aftermath highlight as never before the fast-growing divide between the country's Secular...

Pakistan: Supporters of murderer of governor who opposed blasphemy law disrupt his court appearance
More rose petals for the murderer of Salman Taseer, who opposed Pakistan's Blasphemy law. Tiny Minority of Extremists™ Update: "Chaos over Mumtaz Qadri's court appearance," from AFP, January 6: Islamabad: A planned court appearance for Malik Mumtaz Hussain Qadri, the killer of Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, ran into chaos on Thursday as extremist supporters prevented an attempt to re-locate the session, witnesses said. Mumtaz Qadri, who was assigned to Salman Taseer's security detail and c...