Sharon Kelly: Pakistani Killing Latest in Deadly Debate around "Blasphemy Laws"

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...

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. ...

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...

Primitive blasphemy laws a curse on Pakistan
With the summer sun bearing down on the agricultural heartland of Pakistan, farm worker Asia Bibi dipped her cup into a communal water bucket to quench her thirst. According to various accounts, an argument immediately ensued as Bibi, a Christian, was accused by her peers of making the water impure. As she rose to her defense, Bibi was accused again of blaspheming Islam and insulting its prophet. After 18th long months in Prison, she was sentenced to death by a District Court judge who based his...

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...

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...

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 ...

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&...

What Obama Thinks of America
Sometimes the best way to find out what a person thinks about you is to find out what he tells others. That's why the report on America's Human Rights record filed by the Obama Administration with the U.N. is particularly interesting. It's more accurate to say that this first-ever report to the U.N. Human Rights Council was from the Obama Administration rather than from the United States. Its main theme is what President Obama has done in his short two years, rather than what our great country...

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...

After the Taseer Assassination, Pakistan's Christians Cower While Some Muslims Applaud
Two of the dead man's sons sobbed uncontrollably as preparations for Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer's Funeral were underway in Lahore on Wednesday. But, to the south, in Pakistan's huge port city of Karachi, religious scholars united to forbid mourning. They urged pious Muslims not to offer Funeral prayers for the outspoken Taseer who had most recently made headlines by championing the rights of Aasia Bibi, a Christian convert facing execution because of the country's Blasphemy laws. Indeed, o...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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."...

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...

Pakistani Muslims must honor prophet Muhammad by protecting Christians
Pakistani Governor Salaam Taseer was assassinated for speaking out against the Blasphemy laws that condemned Aasia Bibi (a Christian woman) to death. But to truly honor the prophet Muhammad, Pakistanis must Repeal these laws - to protect, not persecute, Minorities....

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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...